Why I love the credit crunch

As the US Government deliberates spending $700bn of taxpayers' money bailing out financial institutions, surely it is time to recognize that the banking industry is out of control?

I have always found it offensive how much pride British people take in the power of the City. Perhaps it should not strike me as odd that a country which has the highest rate of cocaine use in Europe and a gambling industry worth £91billion idolises the arrogant risk-takers who populate Britain's financial sector. But it does. Britain's finance industry is not British. Foreign corporations make use of our liberal regulation and hospitality. For too long those who work for major financial institutions have been playing a game that is out of control, safe in the knowledge that they will be bailed out by the taxpayer.

But what about all that they contribute to the economy? Their contribution is only keeping prices high, promoting frivolous hospitality centres which charge ridiculous amounts: the members' clubs, the Botox clinics and worst of all, the gastropubs.

But it is not only the love this country shows to these people that offends me but more so, it is the attitude of those parasites. Only Broadmoor boasts more individuals with personality disorders than the Square Mile. Here is the epicentre of Britain's selfish culture, the wave of egotism that was pulled in by ‘economic prosperity.' Selfishness did not begin in the City, but it is there that the most extreme example of our own individualistic culture can be found. But now, the wave is breaking. Thousands of city workers have lost their jobs as a consequence of the credit crunch.

It is telling that the Archbishops of both York and Canterbury have publicly condemned City practices. There is nothing human or humane about the way financial traders have behaved: the credit crunch has been caused by selfishness and risks being taken in a world far removed from normality. John Sentamu drew a brilliant contrast between the US government's $700bn bail-out plan and the chronic lack of funding for tackling global poverty, "One of the ironies of this financial crisis," he explained, "is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn to save six million children's lives. World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us action for the poorest is too expensive?"

And Rowan Williams identified the fundamental problem with City trading - it has no relationship with real goods, simply abstract concepts, "The biggest challenge in the present crisis is whether we can recover some sense of the connection between money and material reality - the production of specific things, the achievement of recognisably human goals."

Short selling, Hedgefunds, derivatives: none of them are real, concrete phenomena. This form of capitalism is not productive, it does not rely on goods or even services, it is simply the creation of money from money, it is parasitical.

As an extended period of economic growth draws to a close, I see two major benefits. Firstly, prices fall. We have accumulated £1.39trillion of debt trying to pursue the GQ ideal of emulating the super-rich, our own version of the American Dream. Now we must recognize what realistic and responsible spending is. Secondly, attitudes change. Consumerism will take a huge hit from the credit crunch and perhaps so too will the selfish and British attitude. Surely now, restaurants will not be able to treat its customers as cattle without any regard for their enjoyment; nightclubs will be forced to charge less than £7 for a bottle of water. The fact that we will actually need each other's money once again may paradoxically cause us to treat each other with a little more respect.

I am not calling for the abolition of the financial sector. Nor am I turning a blind eye to the many negative consequences of this economic crisis. But the effects of the credit crunch are not all undesirable: if temporary economic meltdown is what is required to replace our money-worshipping culture with a stronger grip on reality, then surely the super-rich City bankers are a worthy sacrifice?

Jack Rivlin