ABSTRACT
To tackle one taboo is to make more than enough trouble but taking on two is surely asking for it. Although money and emotions are less censored, not all is cause for celebration. Emotions in finance are ‘news’, and wildly simplified since the 2007 financial crisis. Prime ministers have pleaded for trust in banks and confidence in money to be restored. Greed is a popular theme. After the worst economic collapse since 1929, banks still want certainty in ‘risk-free’ state money yet express lack of trust in each other’s balance sheets. However we explain this cognitive dissonance, the sector searches for ‘future-proof’ methods, but these aims can never be met, and are not met. Public trust in banks has declined. The puffs about amazing profits proved less than honest, we now know. Distrust is perfectly rational.
