Banks: The next great crisis
WORKERS, JULY 2010 ISSUE
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Banks face another crisis as tens of millions of pounds of commercial property loans are due to be refinanced this year and over the next three years. Borrowers are struggling to repay the loans and investment banks fear the value of their commercial property debt holdings will be reduced by between 30 and 50 per cent with “write-downs” and “fire sales”.
The amount of debt backed by European commercial property requiring refinancing is expected to more than double this year to more than £4 billion, before rising to £12 billion next year and nearly £20 billion by 2013.
There are serious credit crunches ahead and capitalist banks face further crises in the future. The more we know, the more we realise capitalism is based on reckless profiteering for a few and is inherently unstable. Time for us to create a different sort of society based on industry and work, without finance capital.
• April’s goods trade deficit was £7.3 billion; the overall trade deficit was £3.3 billion. When eurozone countries cut back public spending and therefore their demand, our exports fall. So despite a 25 per cent drop in the pound’s value since 2007, Britain is not exporting more.