Both in the US and on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, politicians are  going out of their way to prove to their electorate that they have learnt the lessons from the financial crisis and that it would never happen again (in this way...).

Now that they have taken a number of measures which are completely unfocused, overly timid or pointless (fiscal shelters, traders' bonuses, supervision of financial systems or rating agencies) they might well end up achieving the exact opposite of what they should have been after (regulation of derivatives and reshaping of Basel II), had they been serious about preventing another financial crisis in the years to come.

Let’s put this straight: The action of small states whose survival depends on their ability to attract monies from abroad has certainly not been at the origin of the financial crisis, nor has it compounded its effect. But our politicians gladly availed themselves of the opportunity to lure back some funds that escaped taxation at home. Some of these monies will be used to finance the recovery of the banking system...fair enough? Some may say so and part of their electorate may rejoice. Still, as this was obviously considered to be the most urgent political priority, one might have wondered about the consistency of the steps to come, and rightly so....