Banking mad

By Jason Moore THERE is something rather nasty about the so-called credit crunch and the banking crisis. Am I right in thinking that when times are good banks make a fortune and when times get hard they just get bailed out by the government? West Ham,the football club, were sponsored by the now defunct tour firm XL. On the weekend that they went into liquidation West Ham were forced to patch over their shirts to remove the name of their sponsor. But Northern Rock, owned by Great Britain PLC, continues to sponsor Newcastle United and AIG (now effectively owned by the U.S. Federal Reserve) are the patrons of Manchester United. Surely, as these companies are now state owned because otherwise their fate would have been in the balance,, they should no longer be able to sponsor football club s and act in a way that nothing has happened? Shirt patches for Newcasfle and Manchester United, well yes. The banking system needs a complete overhaul and while I agree that saving deposits should be safeguarded and to some extent mortgages (the government could clearly be given a role) banks should fall into the same category as every other business in the world. At the end of the day there is no such thing as a free hand out from a bank.