[I know this is off-topic for some of the groups I'm sending it to, but some of you may lose a lot of money if you don't read it...]

 

Most sources of stock market information only provide data for the last twelve months. I noticed that the Barclays Bank share price had fallen to its lowest level in that period yesterday, despite (or maybe partly caused by) making a desperate attempt to attract savers by dramatically changing their overdraft penalties, to make up for their losses due to the credit crunch. The changes are too complicated for me to explain, and I wouldn't want to risk getting the details wrong because people's livelihoods are at stake, so read a news item such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7425057.stm or http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/investnews/article.htm?ArticleID=18616053 for details.

Newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy demolished the arguments of a Barclays spokesperson live on Channel 4 News yesterday lunchtime. [This is my favourite news programme, along with Newsnight on BBC2; the live interviews on those programmes avoid the censorship that is particularly common in the mass media.] Krishnan pointed out that if they can reduce charges on overdrawn accounts from £35 to £8, then they must be admitting that their existing charges are unfair. He also pointed out that the overdraft interest rate is exorbitant compared to the base rate.

With the help of a stock market investor friend of mine, I've obtained a chart for Barclays share prices on the London Stock Exchange over the past five years. I got it from the Advanced Financial Network website (www.advfn.com). Note that you need to register (which you can do for free) and the website is buggy and hard to use.

However, I've captured the chart as a JPG image, which should appear below (if it doesn't you can find it at http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?topic=6480.msg6523):



I have already twice caused Barclays shares to fall by about 10% by suggesting that they will go bankrupt, and I'm sending this message far and wide as well. If many investors and customers see this graph, they are even more likely to disinvest or withdraw their savings. And once some people panic, it could set off a chain reaction that brings the bank to its knees very quickly!

A possibly important caveat is that Barclays is seeking funding from sovereign wealth funds in the Far East - itself a sign that their financial status is not as secure as they would have us believe. Those investors are more likely to base their investment decisions on political motives, and they may be more willing to bail Barclays out than those solely basing their decisions on the quest for profit.

Some of you may be under the impression that Barclays will be bailed out by the government/Bank of England/Financial Services Authority, if/when its bankruptcy is on the cards. New Labour politicians (specifically prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling) have claimed that will happen, and measures are planned (or possibly in place already) to enable this.

However, Barclays' assets and liabilities are around $1.8 trillion, about nine times those of Northern Rock!

Does anybody really think that the discredited and highly unpopular Labour Party leaders will be able to step in to save Barclays, even though they know that failure to do so will spell the end of the New Labour project - of taking us towards the sort of authoritarian capitalist society predicted by George Orwell in his book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" in which revolutionary change is impossible. Even if they could politically get away with it, who's to say that the financial markets will lend the Bank of England the money?

If you owe Barclays money, be very happy - your overdraft or mortgage would be written off if they go under. Investors and savers will suffer, including innocent people who aren't aware of Barclays Bank's unethical history, including propping up the apartheid regime in South Africa. To those who are aware of that, my message is "Good riddance!"