Fink club: Where did our money go and what can we do about it?

Full audio recording from the Fink Club event on Monday 4 April 2011. Click here to download the MP3 or stream below:

In advance of next week’s interim report by the Independent Commission on Banking (also known as the Vickers Commission) nef and the Robin Hood Tax campaign brought the hot topic of banking reform to the ‘fink club’ ring on Monday. As the banks fight over how to sink the Vickers Commission, we gathered to debate ‘Where did our money go and what can be done about it?’.

The evening began with snappy six minute rounds of ‘finking’ from Richard Murphy (Tax Research UK), David Hillman (Robin Hood Tax) and Tony Greenham (nef). Tony opened up the floor by delivering hooks left, right and centre at the current banking system, advocating a fundamental restructuring of the sector. Breaking up the banks and creating a multitude of mutually owned banks would, Greenham argued, restabilise the economy, enable investment in communities and create local jobs.

Next up in the ring was Hillman, who threw live punches in the direction of the tax system by advocating the introduction of a financial transaction tax (also known as Robin Hood Tax). Expanding upon this argument, Murphy closed the round by calling for a progressive tax system that would include a variety of tools, such as the application of VAT to financial transactions.   

Opening up of the fink club ring to the audience brought a plethora of right hook and knockout punches to the debate. These throws came from a wide variety of backgrounds, from campaigners and think tank workers, to students and senior citizens. 

One 'finker', an actor by trade, threw his weight around the area of number crunching. Arguing that fundamental reform would not happen if society did not get its head around the numbers involved, the actor urged us to learn how to differentiate between the millions, billions and trillions lost to the taxpayer through hidden subsidies, bonuses and bail-outs. The actor explained how distinguishing between such big numbers could be achieved by giving the following eloquent example.  If one was to count non-stop, at a rate of one number per second, it would take 12 days to count to a million, 32 years to count to a billion, and over 31,000 years to count to a trillion. Using this method of counting to get some perspective on the figures involved in the financial crisis, we can calculate that it would take only 80 years to count to the 2.5 billion tax levy introduced this year by Osborne, compared to over 31,000 years to count to the 1.2 trillion taken from the taxpayers to bail out the banks.

But it wasn't just numbers. We also had some ideas for actions and policy from the floor. These included the suggestion that somebody of high profile, such as Bill Gates, could be lobbied to carry the momentum of the campaign for banking reform forward. While topics such as this triggered heated debate, other questions from the floor were quickly knocked out by our heavyweights in the ring. This included the knock out of concerns raised over how the British economy might suffer if banks left the UK in response to financial restructuring. Putting this issue quickly to rest, Richard Murphy explained how these rumours were the result of empty threats made by the financial sector’s marketing campaign.

The finking on finance was brought to an end (although it continued late into the evening in a neighbouring bar) with a discussion on what we can do as individuals, and collectively, to bring about positive change in this area. Action points included sharing the Vampire Squid video with your MP, and continuing to fink and share ideas about how we can move forward with the most urgent issue of banking reform.