Time was, says the Countess du Ruel, when bankers were men of honour, and the public were proud that such men were in charge of their money. When Barings Bank went bust in 1890, the partners, being family members and gentlemen, honoured all debts.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, had to confront angry shareholders this week, laughs the Countess du Ruel.  And it sounds like the chairman, who claimed his bank was doing "God's work," was given hell by Christian shareholders at the annual meeting in Manhattan.  These religious leaders, with investments in Goldman Sachs, called upon him to work"for the many, not just the few." .

I tuned into Bloomberg on the telly the other night and watched Senator John McCain and Senator John Levin grilling Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs over the fraud scandal, growls Mrs. M. The Senate inquiry was tough and brooking no nonsense, but Blankfein and his fellow Goldman/Harvard intellects chose to pretend they couldn't understand the charges or a word of what McCain or Levin were saying.  Blankfein's face was a picture of innocent confusion.

An interesting book has come out recently, written by the leading economist John Kay. In the book, Obliquity, he argues that our goals are best achieved obliquely, and that "the richest men are not the most materialistic. Nor has it ever been otherwise." It's a notion that can help us unpick the causes of the current economic catastrophe.

Only days ago I wrote about CEO Lloyd Blankfein's phoney Mea Culpa, insuring Goldman's clients that the bank wasn't betting against them. Now it turns out that that is exactly what Wall Street's most successful bank has been doing.  Blankfein's assurance had the ring of the old saying, "The lady doth protest too much"! Or, as the early pioneers in their wagon trains heading West used to say, "The fox that finds it, the smell lies behind it!"  chortles Mrs. M.

Goldman Sachs, famously described by Rolling Stone Magazine as a “giant Vampire Squid” that jams its blood funnel into anything which smells of money, is at it again, sniffs Mrs. M. Is it possible that these Harvard grads have no shame? Harvard Business School has a lot to answer for. Like the madrasses in Pakistan which turn out terrorists, Harvard Business School is turning out financial terrorists.

Forsooth!  Fie!  Blood of Satan! We don't have enough curses for these cursed bankers, growls Countess du Ruel. They have their hands back in the till.  We pillory, draw and quarter, and put poor politicians into the stockades for betraying our trust.  But what do we do to the bankers who are ten times worse and hit us where it really hurts...in our pockets. 

Only days after Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sacks made a contrite public display of calling Wall Street bonuses 'greedy,' growls Mrs. M, we see a volte face. Suddenly, as if this mea culpa never happened, Goldman announces that its' bankers are getting a 35% pay rise in the midst of the recession.  The bank has set aside a $4.7 billion compensation pot in bonuses for its staff for the first third of the year.

We have had requests to re-run our financial blogs during G20 Week

At last someone is talking sense and saying what we all believe, cheers Mrs. M. Bankers need to be exposed and prosecuted for robbing us of our economy and our life savings!  If they had come to our homes and stolen our tellies, our cars, our jewellery and our possessions, we would cry ‘Thief!'  These well-heeled, spoiled, white collar robbers have stolen our pensions, our deposits, our savings, our stock and shares, and yet they are still dining in the best restaurants on looted booty and floating around on their yachts.  While they dine on caviar bought by us, we are losing our livelihoods, our incomes and our peace of mind.

I can't believe my eyes, says a flabbergasted Mrs. M. There's a 70% slide in the stock market, and still investment firms are setting aside billions for bonuses.  Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and even Lehman Bros. are back to the old habits and offering outrageous year end rewards.