LSE Chairman Chris Gibson Smith knew the score going in:
this statement on opportunities dates from 2009
The London Stock Exchange does not appreciate being targeted by the Occupy Movement. To deflect attention, the brokers are blaming the politicians for enacting the policies for which they lobbied. LSE Chairman Dr Chris Gibson-Smith speaks out:
“There are unintended consequences of free markets,” he added. “It’s not capitalism that has been the problem, but irresponsible governments and politicians who have allowed the financial system to explode by permitting the build-up of ludicrous amounts of debt and leverage.
“No one ever said that free markets could or would be self-regulating. That’s where people over the past few decades have got it wrong, and many are still in denial – look at Alan Greenspan, [the former chairman of the Federal Reserve], who is still defending free markets.”
Gibson-Smith is quite right of course but it would have been nice of him to speak up earlier. The cynicism and hypocrisy of our ruling class rivals that of Louis XVI’s court.