The era of irresponsibility began with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers

September 16, 2008. The next day. 14 years have passed since then and we are now in the 15th year.

Then it is marked by a line that divides time and eras into two parts. A kind of Maginot Line, an even bigger wall of China. It’s a powerful moment Distinction between the before era and the after era. We are talking about a different time and it is no coincidence that this failure triggered a period in which finance and economics no longer found a common identity.

He was born Lehman Brothers bankruptcy that I’m talking about.

It was September 15, 2008.

I remember the first show I did on this topic. When I see her again today, I feel incompetent and inadequate again. I also seem to be out of touch and have few ideas to develop on a topic that then invades our lives day after day.

But who expected that? The failure of a bank it was not in the order of things, it wasn’t in the order of ideas. It just wasn’t there. A bank is a bank and it could not change negatively, it could not endanger the depositors’ money. He just couldn’t fail.

In Italy, bank failures were prevented by the Reggio Decree of 1936. No bank could fail in Italy, let alone in the United States, where the Wall Street giants had stacked billions on top of each other as if they were in Uncle Scrooge’s vault. The States were the country where the images of the Fort Knox bars were always visible Idea of ​​solidity, strength, guarantee and trust.

The The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers completely changed the rules of the game. It changed the feeling of trust. From that moment on, anything was possible, anything. Italian banks and others have failed. A law was written that allowed the bankruptcy of credit institutions while placing the blame and responsibility on savers. They called it BRRD or Bail-in law.

They were not aware that the English language that refers to dealing with “internal failure” (more precisely: bail-in) is spelled differently in Ligurian but pronounced almost the same, in a “bail-in” sort of way. indicates village stupid, an adjective that frames the interlocutor who takes it negatively.

Bail – In or belin’ are terms from different languages ​​with similar pronunciation and identical meaning.

Dumb…

In fact, in the new BRRD world there is only scope for savers to choose a bank wisely. Must Choose the bank that is furthest away from bankruptcy. But the great thing is that we citizens have to do it as if we had competence and ownership.

And if we turn our backs on a bank because we think it is in danger and take our money, we can really ruin it, and for that we are always responsible. And if our money continues to support the banking system of the region in which we live, and then the bank collapses, we lose everything, even the attempt to help it.

In short: if we run away, if we stay, it is our fault. It’s always our fault. The responsibility lies entirely with us. It’s like accepting that there can be a good bank and a bad bank in the market. It’s as if the Regulators were relieved of the responsibility to decide in advance whether to close a bank Leaving responsibility for what will happen to companies and families

Is it acceptable that there is a good bank and a bad bank in the market?

That’s it Freedom from (irresponsible) responsibilities has caused the national debts of European countries to begin to fluctuate. From banks to states to continental currencies. The pandemic was almost the logical consequence of all this, as was the inflation caused by the lockdown.

As if everything was written in time. It is as if we have forgotten responsibility.

The failure of a bank is a lack of a sense of responsibility, a sense of responsibility that no longer exists, a sense of responsibility that, once removed, allows things to happen.

There The Lehman Brothers story represents an act of complete irresponsibility. It represents the point of no return in the desire to protect even the most vulnerable. Lehman Brothers has changed the lives of even people who can’t pronounce its name and who never knew it existed. With this failure, act after act, debt after debt, law after law, bureaucrat after bureaucrat, we have come this far.

Here represents another current moment.

And look, The banks are the culprits again. Rightly or wrongly, they are the ones to blame.

The Italian banks are asked to repay 180 billion in loans to the ECB There is a risk that we are in a current phase where we no longer have liquidity or are forced to draw on it at very high interest rates, the highest in some time. This 180 billion The banks left them negative interest deposits. They didn’t invest it, they didn’t “make it work.” The fear of the BRRD made them “stupid” and so they preferred to protect themselves, defend without counterattacks.

A moment when the government attacks the banks. In which Everything seems to be conspiring against her againas in a drawing that has already been created from the beginning.

It’s the moment when Demographic developments are destroying productivity a country like the one we live in, where the masses of migrants have just left the country and where we are faced with difficult and important decisions.

AND Meanwhile, savings volumes are decreasing. -84 billion. It is the money that Italians have been forced to withdraw from their bank accounts. These actually came out, they didn’t end up on other products. Let’s make sure they don’t end.

The world we face It will be a difficult and complicated world.

Capable men and women are needed Return to shared responsibilityto responsibilities based on competence.

The absence of strong values ​​no longer has a place.