Banking Blog

Interesting article on Joris Luyendijk's banking blog -- discussing the current wave of anger aimed at bankers, with psychoanalyst Leslie Chapman: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2012/apr/19/anger-at-the-banks-psychoanalyst

City of London workers

Escapism: "There can be a peculiar kind of enjoyment in anger," he says, "as it allows you [to] not engage with the problem." This may explain why some of the most angry commenters seem to lack curiosity about how the sector actually works.

Envy: Some people may feel enormous envy of those who are, as in the hilarious phrase of Harry Enfield, "considerably richer than you". Ranting and venting at bankers can become a way to deny these negative feelings to yourself and make you feel better about yourself, Chapman suggests.

Cover for powerlessness: These are insecure times with pensions, benefits and other economic rights under pressure. Anger, argues Chapman, may be a way for people to express their increasing sense of powerlessness and loss of control. "They seem to be saying to the bankers: I hate you for taking away my sense of control – and my enjoyment."

Guilt: Anger may also help to drown out feelings of guilt towards the billions of people in poor and developing countries, many of whom are exploited by the global economic system in far worse ways than western taxpayers by their banks.