Philip Hammond Blames The Victims Yet Again.

In an outrageous example of disingenuous Tory twaddle Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has claimed that those who borrowed money from the banks must shoulder their fair share of the blame for the financial meltdown. Ignoring the fact that the banks have actually been allowed to get away with their criminal behaviour scot-free by this bunch of posh boys and, indeed, have continued to steal money on a multi-national scale, what exactly does he mean? Well, most of the bad debt was associated with property - sub-prime mortgages that were offered to desperate people so they could at least purchase a roof over their heads. The point is, why were they so desperate? Because the banks, believing they were on to a good thing, deliberately forced up property values in order to increase the size of loans and the profits that could be made from this eagerly helped by estate agents and governments who loved the tax returns on all this. As prices skyrocketed ordinary people saw their dream of being home ownners evaporating before their eyes and grew increasingly desperate to get on the property ladder before it was too late. Seduced by mortgages that were easy to get, they clutched at the straw that was offered to them, calculating that if the world economy continued to grow then so would their wages and that the mortgage would become increasingly easy to service. The banks knew this wasn't true but had come up with a wizard wheeze that meant that they at least could avoid the consequencies. They bundled good and bad mortgages together and sold them on, buying other bundles from other banks that they figured weren't as smart as they were. Unfortunately, when the whole rotten dance ground to a halt and the banks examined what they had bought from each other, they discovered that they had all been engaged in the same confidence trick and had happily been shafting each other all along. Nice try Mr.Hammond, but the old Tory trick of blaming the victim won't wash here and is nothing more than sheer hypocrisy.