Opening a meeting of finance ministers from the G20 countries in St Andrews, Scotland last Saturday, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown advocated a new beginning for the people of the world, where there will be a “just distribution of risks and rewards”.
Addressing the ministers, he said there was a need to “discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society.” In an attempt to drive home his point, the Prime Minister warned that it was unacceptable that only the very few people who run and control the financial services are allowed to reap the benefits of their success, while the public picks up the pieces when they fail. “There must be a better economic and social contract,” he said.
We believe that Gordon Brown has raised a very important issue here, one which needs to be seriously considered by the international community if we are to avoid another cycle of economic collapse in the near future.
However, that is not to say that we also buy his idea of an international financial tax aimed at achieving his proposed ‘social contract’ for financial institutions. Metro Éireann believes that that can easily be achieved by forcing the institutions to invest a certain percentage of their profits into sustainable projects.
Also, governments can surely control the destiny of financial institutions by ensuring that robust rules and regulations are enacted, and that a proper monitoring system is put in place to make sure that such institutions are fully accountable to society.
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