L: 28% S:0% G: 28% N: 28% ~ $P 0%

Alistair Darling is supposed to be giving a speech this week where he intends to warn the BBA about speaking out against regulation apparently, he wants to make a point about 'sloppy board room practices'. 'tis a bit rich for a man incapable of correctly filing his own expense claim forms, 'tis a bit rich from a government unable to look after data, unable to constrain spending, that buys its own claptrap hubris. What would be welcome, rather than this "pitchfork populism" would be make boards and company management more accountable to shareholders. Companies and savers face two 'agent problems', ie. the saver hands over his money to a pension fund and pays a fixed non performance fee, this fund then hands this money over to a company management who again puts this to work for taking a semi performance related fee. For all the critism of bank renumeration strategies the media fail to see the wood from the trees, the biggest agency problem was with those investing in bank shares with savers money, the relative performance of hedge funds says it all. To cure this problem though is more than a matter of trying to regulate pension funds (a VERY bad idea, they're slow and rules based enough) but to get savers to wake up and smell the coffee themselves.