Letters

摘要

Your leader on the banking crisis claims that the costs of the government bail-out and associated moral hazard "seem small against the benefit of putting a floor under the markets" ("I want your money", September 27th). This is arguable, but probably correct. Yet in the very next leader you bemoan caps on bank executives' pay because "companies and shareholders are better at setting salaries than bureaucrats" ("Questions of equity", September 27th). It is hard to disagree with that, even if recent events make me question this wisdom. However, your priorities are backwards. Distortions resulting from erroneous salary caps are small compared with the long-term effects of moral hazard. Today it might even be argued that chasing the "talent" away from the financial sector yields a net benefit.