[bankers] gangsters in suits

First the news:

Home mortgage rates could rise to between 9 and 10 per cent by the middle of next year — with not one but three more rises ahead — as the Reserve Bank struggles to keep the lid on an overheating Australian economy, the ANZ bank has warned.

Now the exquisite touch:

In a rebuff to Treasurer Peter Costello, ANZ and another prominent bank yesterday declared they would not be pressured by the Government into refraining from rate rises during the federal election campaign.

As the banks faced off with the Treasurer, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile also entered the fray, appealing to the Reserve Bank not to raise its official rate next month, and warning that another rise could push heavily indebted farmers over the edge.

Quiz question:

Since when has a western government had to beg a bank to do something, to be answered in such a cavalier fashion?

Which answer is correct?

1. Since the year dot. The bankers rule the earth and there’s someone else ruling the bankers. Hands up those who still think the government runs the show.

2. The government is laying the blame on the Reserve for what it approved in the first place.