October 25, 2015

In this cynical age why do some, like Gillian Tett, trust so much the bank regulators to know what they are doing?

This is data found on the web:
The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in motorcycles is 21.45
The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in cars is 1.14
In 2011 in the US, 4,612 persons died in motorcycle accidents
In 2011 in the US, 32,479 persons died in vehicle accidents

And so, even though travelling by motorcycle is about 20 times riskier than cars, cars cause about 7 times more deaths than motorcyclists. That is of course because the riskier something is perceived the more care is taken to avoid that risk.

Sir, Gillian Tett after informing “that some online reviews by Amazon were fake or, more accurately, that authors could pay for a positive review” ends with “What is really interesting is that faith in the cyber crowd seems so resilient to scandals… online reviews will continue exerting a spell and act as a reminder of how we blindly trust things — even in a cynical age.” “Why we trust the cybercrowd” October 25.

Bank regulators have decided on higher capital requirements for banks when lending “the risky” motorcyclist of the economy, SMEs and entrepreneurs, than when lending to “the safe” car drivers, sovereigns and corporations with high ratings… even though clearly dangerous excessive lending to the latter is much more likely to occur.

Ms. Tett: In this cynical age, and even after the financial crisis, produced exclusively by excessive lending to what was perceived as safe, how come you still put so much trust in regulators, so as to ignore all my letters explaining their horrendous mistake?

@PerKurowski ©