Psychology of City Cats

As the furore over Barclays (and what other banks...?) and the Libor Scandal goes on, with discussions over resignations and the question of appropriate justice, I started thinking about the employees behind it.  To work in the finance arena, I'm presuming that you need to be a sharp, hard-hitting, manipulative type of person who is basically out to make as much money as possible (do correct me if I'm wrong - if you work in the City and are a fluffy type who knits at your desk and eats home-made lasagne every night).

I can imagine such a personality getting obsessed with performance, with working out how to make the bottom line look better (for the company and for themselves); at any cost, or without consideration of the cost...?   Did those who manipulated the figures stop and think for one moment about what would happen if they were caught?  Or do they think that they are above normal humans and untouchable, and 'getting caught' did not enter their minds? Did they even realise that they were doing anything wrong, or do they get so enmeshed in it that they are blind to that.

There is much talk at the moment of how it should be treated, of banks getting away with a large fine, and a few individuals resigning or being fired rather than being treated in the same way as others who commit serious fraud (or other more minor infractions) - ie. prison.


How do the untouchables feel when the axe falls?  Maybe they are losing some sleep now, now that this particular bubble that they were flying on has burst...

Frugality

I know I am not alone in my quest to spend less money, the Muddled Market Place is on the same track and I'm sure many people are after Christmas.

Mr H and I have rather been forced into it after years of being not well off, but not broke either.  Now we have two properties to run, plus paying for those student years of his where we didn't cut back as much as we should, so we're on a joint effort to not waste money.  

Before Christmas I spent more than I wanted to on food etc. ready for having Mr H home - not that I went mad but I probably spent twice as much as normal. I probably spent 1/5 of what some others did!   However since 23rd December I am proud to say we have spent precisely the following:

Fuel when we visited family  £31.94
Hot sausage rolls from the petrol station to eat en route   £2.98
Ibuprofen  £1.20

Now I reckon that is pretty good.  I really didn't think 6 bottles of wine would last 2 weeks, for a start!  Now I am so buoyed up by this that I am thinking of doing the Store Cupboard Diet where you eat the stuff that is in the cupboard / fridge / freezer instead of ignoring it and buying something else.   This might end up with some interesting mixtures but hey I can live with that.

Last night I had a sort out of clothes as my drawers were a mess, but was much more careful about how many I chucked in the charity shop bag.  As this has been rather a 'non-typical' year I can't really use the 'I haven't worn it for a year' benchmark.  I also put a few pieces on eBay, bearing in mind that it is only worth listing if it has a known brand/design name and is worth at least £5.00. 

Today I mended two pairs of trousers that had been sitting on the floor in the bedroom for at least a year - one with a button off and one where the hem had come down.   So that involved getting out my old sewing basket which I've had since I was a child and sorting out what was in it, which was rather therapeutic as was the actual mending.

Things have been chucked into the top of the basket over the years, so amongst the needles and thread I found loads of spare buttons (the ones that come with clothes when you buy them), some bootlaces, ribbon, lining cloth in a bag from a shop that closed down at least 20 years ago, some different coloured feathers and a repair kit for Mr H's Stihl chainsaw trousers. 

I also have some socks to darn, but have no wool so that therapy will have to wait until another day.