Douglas Carswell's Blog

Isn't this what happens in Atlas Shrugged?

Many customers of state-owned RBS/NatWest have been unable to access their accounts for days following an IT fiasco.  Reading about it, I was reminded of what happens in Ayn Rand's classic novel, Atlas Shrugged.

A tale about big corporate railway companies colluding with big government, Rand's 1950s best-seller could have been written about banks today.

Instead of providing willing customers with a service, the railway operators discover that they can enrich themselves by doing deals with government. So that is what they start to do.

First they work with government to shut out the competition. Then to get their “fair share of credit”. Then they lobby government for bailouts.  Many are nationalised in order to socialise the risks, while keeping private massive, unearned profits.

Sound familiar? 

But with each handout the big corporate interests become less responsive to the needs of their customers. So the standard of customer service declines ever further.

Remind you of anything?

Replace the words “railroad company” with “bank”, and Atlas Shrugged is a pretty good description of the crony corporatist mess that our banking system is fast becoming.

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