A better question to ask is "When will the Government learn from their mistakes?"

Bailing out banks doesn't work, not when there is a lack of confidence. Imagine the scenario, well, you don't need to imagine, as this is what happened.

For arguments sake, lets say there are 10 banks in the country. 3 of those banks have made really bad choices and are no longer financially viable. 5 of those banks didn't make bad choices, but neither did they make good choices. They will hurt a bit, but are still viable. 2 banks have hardly any exposure to the problem at all, and are 100% sound banks.

So, what does the Government do? It gives money to those 3 failing banks, even though they are no longer viable. This makes people think the other 5 banks also have trouble, which puts them into the same position as the first 2 banks. The 2 remaining healthy banks then get drawn into the problem.

The Government should have completely taken over those failed banks at the start, then they should wait until the market recovers and sell the assets on. It was the only logical way to do it. It also makes sure tax payers aren't taking a huge risk.

This is what happened. Sound banks are now in trouble because failed banks were allowed to continue to operate. How can any rational investor gain confidence from this?

But no, the Government haven't learnt from this mistake. Now they are about to do the same things with companies as well. Yes, that's right, struggling companies will now be able to get Government handouts, while healthy companies can whistle.

Imagine this scenario. Your company made good choices over the past year, where as your competitors made bad choices. Your competitor should be failing now, which will give your company a little boost as well. However, the Government won't let this failing company do what it needs to do, fail. The Government will give a cash injection to allow the company to either keep on failing, or give them a second chance in competing with you. As a result, your previously healthy company could find itself in trouble. Or, equally as bad, the failing company still fails, and tax payers money has gone the way of the dodo.

We live in a society where NOBODY is allowed to be labelled as what they are, a failure. Until we can get back to "survival of the fittest". this problem won't go away. If the Government does manage to restore confidence, they have done it by selling out the next two generations of this country.

Certainly there have been many greedy consumers with big cars etc. but it has been mainly the greed of the bankers looking for massive bonuses rather than sustainable lending.

Unfortunately though it is the prudent, hardworking savers that are paying the price for all the greed- not the bankers. They are getting away with it and are intent on rebuilding their reserves ready for the next scam to increase their bonuses. The blunderhead Brown is letting them do this and it is the Savers that are now paying!!

We have always been told to work hard and plan ahead with Pensions and Savings so that we will not be a burden to the rest of society in our later years yet now all those plans have been decimated and Brown says nothing!!!

I agree to a certain degree about peoples greed that went a long way towards our present situation.

But this would not have happened anyway if Brown had, as Chancellor, curtailed the amount of dept we as a country were borrowing. If does not take a genious to realise that.

When Brown was Chancellor he was in charge, and he should have foreseen the implications of too much borrowing.

Brown has to take 80% of the blame for this.

Whilst Gordon Brown must take some of the blame for the current economic crisis/recesssion no-one forced half the country to get themselves up to the neck in debt that they now can't repay. Everyone contributed in some way - individuals buying flash BMW's on the never never, going on 3 foreign holidays a year, living in 4 bed executive houses with 52" plasma TV's - the banks recklessly lent money they probably knew could not be repaid but weren't bothered as long as they got their sales bonuses - businesses paid out big bonuses to their top executives and dividends to shareholders in the good times instead of building up cash reserves. In short everyone got greedy, wanted to live the high life without have the money to pay for it and this is the result. YES Brown is partly to blame but this would have happened whoever was in charge through people's GREED.

Dear Gordon wants to ruin 75% of this population so that at the end of the day they are all claiming Government credit of one description or another.

He does not want individuals to stand on their own feet and have savings, a decent private pension etc.

I honestly think Brown will go down as probably the worst Chancellor / Prime minister this country has ever had, and that is saying something.

Brown seems only intrested in borrowers - hence the enormous borrowing that the Government is undertaking on our behalf. The BOE keeps dropping the intrest rate and this, together with the fatuos reduction in VAT is having no effect. In the mean time the Savers, the people that have tried to look after themselves without looking to the Government for assistance are having their Pockets Picked by the Building Societies and the Tracker Morgage Borrowers (who have received enormous reductions in the last couple of months).

When will they listen and realise that it is not the Intrest rate level that is affecting buisiness, it is because the banks will not lend to them. It makes no difference if the Intrest Rate is 1.5% or 10% if the banks wont lend.