[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Earl of Bronze

Now, unless I'm very much mistake, and I very well may be.... It's my understanding that Barclay's took no money, as in zero, from the government, and are thus not beholding to the tax payers of Great Britain for their continued operation.... If this is the case, then we don't have any recourse to complain.

You are mistaken, they took full advantage of the special liquidity scheme (under which the Bank of England took the burden of ordinary household mortgages off banks' books in return for cash). Also, the credit guarantee plan under which hire purchase and consumer debt, such as car loans, were taken off the banks' ledgers in return for money. The most direct way that banks such as Barclays benefited was through being able to borrow straight from the Bank of England at knockdown interest rates.

In addition, the Bank of England (with the Chancellor's permission) has printed £200billion of new money through the policy of 'quantitative easing' - the process under which the Bank of England buys gilt-edged stock from financial institutions and gives them newly-minted money in exchange. The final piece of help to banks, including Barclays, was the Bank of England's decision to keep interest rates low, at 0.5 per cent, despite a background of rising inflation - which, according to figures yesterday, has gone up to 3.5 per cent.

and without the £1000 billion of tax payers cash flooding the banking market who is to say Barclays would have survived

Barclays, as chief executive John Varley readily acknowledges, has benefited from a series of schemes devised by Chancellor Alistair Darling, the Bank of England and central banks across the world to keep the financial system afloat

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/co...taxpayers.html