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Sir Fred Goodwin


Fred Goodwin, former CEO of RBS, has had his knighthood rescinded.  Sir Fred's aggressive risk taking and mismanagement of one of the oldest banks in the world (RBS was founded in 1727) brought him plaudits in the good years as the bank returned high dividends to its shareholders.  However, since the bank's collapse in 2008, he has been a made a scapegoat and pilloried in the UK's gutter press.  Goodwin did nothing illegal (as far as we know) - he simply made some terrible strategic decisions and mismanaged one of the world's largest banks. 

What about those politicians who have permitted corporations to pay exorbitant salaries to executives?  What about our political elite who oversaw the deregulation of the financial system?  Will they have their peerages etc removed?  Will they have their pensions reduced just like Fred Goodwin?  I think that targeting Fred Goodwin is a populist measure which distracts the populace from thinking about the true culprits behind our ongoing economic mess - our ruling elite!


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