museum-of-debt

Author: bobprophette@yahoo.co.uk

  • A Bank’s Progress: A Tale of Greed and Ineptitude

    A Bank’s Progress: A Tale of Greed and Ineptitude

    How the greed of banks and the ineptitude of regulators took us to the brink of Armageddon – requiring a bail-out we are still paying for, and where we’ve learned almost no lessons.

    We’re all set to repeat the whole process with potentially worse consequences.
    Our story is told with the help of William Hogarth’s series of images called The Rake’s Progress.

    This book is an account of how greed, ambition, and incompetence within the banking industry—enabled by lax regulation—led the global economy to the brink of collapse. Using the artwork and the obvious parallels to William Hogarth’s The Rake’s Progress, it chronicles the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as a microcosm of broader systemic failure, offering a sobering reflection on how little we’ve learned from the crisis and the risks we still face.

    The story begins with The Heir, where George Mathewson dreams of transforming RBS into a financial superpower. He hires Fred Goodwin, “Fred the Shred,” whose aggressive leadership sparks rapid growth, though neither Fred or George fully grasps the risks. The echoes of Scotland’s failed Darien Scheme foreshadow RBS’s eventual downfall.

    In The Levee, Goodwin’s authoritarian culture takes hold, driving an audacious takeover of NatWest. Praised by the press and knighted for his success, Goodwin becomes a darling of government ministers enjoying the bank’s booming profits.

    The Orgy follows RBS on a reckless acquisition spree, buying foreign banks riddled with toxic assets. The bank accumulates risky financial products—like credit swaps and subprime mortgages—that it barely understands.

    As the cracks in the global economy appear, The Arrest describes how RBS outbids Barclays to acquire ABN Amro, despite mounting financial instability. Regulators fail to intervene, leaving RBS burdened with worthless assets.

    In The Gambling House, RBS tries to stay afloat with a risky rights issue, but the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggers panic. Prison follows RBS’s desperate plea to the UK Treasury, leading to a £50 billion taxpayer bailout.

    The book closes with The Madhouse, showing how little has changed. Lavish salaries and bonuses persist, and state-backed banks still dominate the economy. A Bank’s Progress warns that without meaningful reform, the conditions for another financial disaster remain in place.

    Available in Bookstores as part of the Museum of Debt Series.

  • Open Call

    Open Call

    The Museum of Debt is planning a month long pop-up exhibition to be held at an undisclosed location in Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, London’s shining capitalist out-growth.

    Ten years ago, David Graeber pointed out that we’re confused about debt.  What it is and what to do about it.  The Museum of Debt aims to help us understand debt from an anthropological, etymological, psychological and social perspective. The museum will feature artifacts and documents which explore the many dimensions of debt. From its origins as relations between people, the network of obligations that bound communities together to the impersonal and exploitative burden it has become.

    We want to hear what artists have to say about this change. There is no fee for submissions and the best will feature on the Museum’s online gallery and if selected may feature in the exhibition itself.

    You can submit existing work or propose new work. However, no funding is available for the production of new work. It can be in any media – digital, 2D, 3D or other. It can be written word, spoken word, video, sound, drawing, painting, sculpture, performance…anything. You can submit your own response to debt as an issue or experience, but we would particularly like to receive submissions that respond to the following statement.

    5000 years of debt: How we took ‘Thank you’ and turned it into ‘Screw You’.

    Further Information

    A central theme of David Graeber’s analysis is that we are confused about debt, and that without greater clarity about debt we are unlikely to find the right solution. Graeber proposed a new way of thinking about debt in terms of three modes of exchange: communism (from each according to his ability, to each according to his need); direct exchange (between a creditor and a debtor, entered into on the basis of equality and volition); and hierarchy (relations between people where there is no equality and an uneven distribution of power). This suggests that problems are likely to arise at the boundaries between these modes.  Importantly his work suggests that the moral confusion we suffer is likely to mean we are unable to solve these problems without greater thought. He believed that it was time for the debt relationships between people in society to be fundamentally renegotiated. This means taking an objective look at the facts.  Considering the problem from more than one perspective.

    The Museum of Debt wants to contribute to this renegotiation by providing access to, and insights about, some of the material and ideas discussed in Graeber’s book. It aims to do this in a provocative way using humour and satire rather than data and polemics. It aims to provide an artistic, absurdist and anarchic take on the question of debt.

    The team behind the museum have previously delivered numerous visitor experiences including Circus of the Mind (a three ringed circus featuring metaphysical betting, a court of moral ambiguity and a confessional for modern (cognitive) sins) and Cornershop (an apocalyptic version of the traditional British corner shop where nothing is quite what it seems).

  • Haircuts for Capitalists

    Haircuts for Capitalists

    A short presentation about the bloated UK banking sector and the practice of ‘taking a haircut.’

    ‘In common financial jargon, a ‘haircut’ is used to describe a financial loss on an investment. To ‘take a haircut’ corresponds to accepting less than what was owed.’

    Following the 2008 banking meltdown UK taxpayers lent the banking sector 137 Billion. They’re going to take a haircut but what kind of haircut do you think is likely?

  • Open Letter to UK Government Investments

    Open Letter to UK Government Investments

    Dear Friends at UKGI

    I am a taxpayer who happens to be very interested in the return on investment we expect to receive from the investment in the banking sector following the 2007, 2008 banking crisis.

    I note the Treasury’s line as delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9th October 2008. i.e. as a result of the bailout package:

    …The taxpayer… will be fully rewarded for that investment.

    And

    …the risk remains with the banks and not the taxpayer; in other words, we get our money back.

    And

    …ensuring that the taxpayer is appropriately rewarded

    And

    …taxpayers will be rewarded for the risk that they take on

    Given the current circumstances, I calculate that the remaining shares that the government owns need to be sold at £51 per share  in order to achieve these stated aims (i.e. a RoI equivalent to that the banks earn. 7%).

    Obviously this would be quite a BONANZA.

    I ask if you can provide further details as regards future divestiture plans. As a shareholder of Natwest myself, I am very concerned about the government’s handling of this.

    Many thanks

    Kevin Andrews

    Museum of Debt

     

    REPLY RECEIVED

  • Merchant of Venice Campaign

    Merchant of Venice Campaign

    A flyer produced and distributed at during the Globe Theatre’s production of Shakespear’s remarkable play about debt…

  • Museum of Debt Logo (MOD)

    Museum of Debt Logo (MOD)

  • Museum of Debt Logo

    Museum of Debt Logo

  • Specimen of Hubris – The £50 RBS Bank

    Specimen of Hubris – The £50 RBS Bank

    A replica of a £50 RBS Bank note commemorating the building of the Gogarburn HQ as an act of unbridled hubris in the UK finance sector.

  • Debt on the Cards

    Debt on the Cards

    A set of game playing cards containing thought provoking questions about debt also available in video format.

     

  • Debtopoly

    Debtopoly

    DEPTOPOLY is the classic game brought into the 21st Century. It’s money, not land, that’s being traded and monopolised to make the few rich and the majority excluded.

    It’s rigged. The Economy. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor. On and on it goes until it inevitably crashes.  The rich survive and the poor die. Bob Prophette

    Following years of playing their own lethal version of Debtopoly, working tirelessly to get as much money earning as high an interest rate as possible, the Banks finally became so bloated and inefficient the banking system collapsed. In 2008 the Government summoned the top Bankers to Whitehall to tell them they would have to be accept a humiliating bailout – effectively nationalising most of them. The Banks were reluctant, wanting handouts instead. As negotiations progressed into the night the Treasury Officials ordered a curry to feed the bankers and keep them talking.  This work commemorates the now infamous Balti Bail Out which occurred on 7th October 2008. 14 years later the Banks still have not paid back the taxpayer for their investment and its likely that even if they do, they’ll be paying much lower interest than they change us. Deptopoly, created by Bob Prophette is a fully functioning version of the classic game where players compete to get families, their friends and relatives into debt. The more in debt they can get them, the higher the interest they can change, as only the banks have money to lend.

    THE RULES OF DEBTOPOLY

    Debt repayment interest is the new rent extracted from the economy. The aim of the game is to get as much of it earning as high an interest rate as possible.

    How to Win

    Move around the board selling as many financial products as you can. The more products you sell, the more indebted the world becomes and the more interest you earn. If you accumulate enough, you will become too big to fail and win.

    The Board Spaces

    Unindebted families, their relatives and friends. 

    At the start of the game there are eight families. The Browns, the Blueburns, the Pinkertons, the Orangesons, the Redwoods, the Yellowhills, the Greensmiths and the Navytons. Each family has its own set of relatives and/or friends making up the Family Set. When you land on an unindebted space, you pay the amount shown on the board to obtain the right to be able to sell financial products to them. Then, when another player lands on a space that you own, you take a repayment out of the economy and keep it for yourself.

    Business and Charities

    In addition to the families, the Family Sets, there are also Business and Charity Organisations. When you land on an unindebted business or charity space you must pay the amount shown on the board to be able to lend to them. Then when another player lands on that space you receive the repayment.  This is higher the more businesses and charities you own.

    Regulator and Market

    When you land on a space marked Regulation or Market you must draw a card from the relevant decks and undertake the action that is required. Unless stipulated return the card to the bottom of the pile.

    Go Bonus Go Time

    This is the starting position for all players.  It’s the start of the financial period. Each time you pass Go, you receive a £200 Bonus.

    Audit and Get Audited

    When you land on Audit normally nothing happens.  This is just a friendly visit. A boozy lunch maybe.  However, when you land on the ‘Get Audited’ square or you are instructed to go to Audit by one of the regulation Cards, you must go directly to the Audit space. If you pass go you must not collect a Bonus.

    To get out of the Audit you can make a £50 donation to the auditor, or you you can use a Get out of Audit card.  If you don’t have one you can offer to buy one from one of the other players. Alternatively, roll a double and you are free to move that number of spaces.

    Offshore (Free Parking)

    Here you are safe.  You can stay here, earning money when other players land on squares that you own.

    Trading

    When you land on an unindebted space you must pay the sum specified in order to offer financial products.  If you do not wish to pay, that square must immediately be auctioned to the highest bidder.

    You can trade at any time in order to have all of the members of a Family Set (the family, its friends and relatives) indebted to you. You can simply agree to swap Families Sets or buy and sell them. By owning a Family Set, you can sell even more financial products (they no longer have any alternatives as everyone they know is also indebted to you!).  Each product costs the amount shown on the repayment card which also specifies the repayments you receive when another player lands on your space. The products are: Overdraft, Credit Card, Loan, Mortgage.  Once you have a mortgage you can trade in all other products for a 2nd mortgage and receive the highest repayments possible.

    The Economy

    In DEPTOPOLY there isn’t a Bank.  The players take on this role.  Instead, money is held in the Economy. When you lend to a Family, the money is magically created allowing them to repay you from their work. What’s not magically created is the interest. The extraction of this interest from the economy is effectively what leads to economic polarisation over time.

    A Museum of Debt Project.