It is always very obvious that when politicians speak they are never actually using their own words and thoughts but rather those of the spin doctors who coach them on what to do and say to the media. Last night was a very good example and you only had to listen to Gordon Brown to see where Campbell and Mandelson had concentrated their efforts.

Brown was effectively brown-nosing to Nick Clegg because both he and Clegg are looking down the hung-parliament route. The Lib Dems know that a victory for them is a long shot and Labour know that a coalition govt is a possibility with the Lib Dems. I wanted to see both Cameron and Clegg remind the public not about how Brown has performed as PM but what damage he did as Chancellor in trying to consolidate debt.

While many are newly seduced by Clegg’s strong performance last night just keep in mind that the most his party can probably hope for is to form a coalition govt. The last time the Lib Dems were in coalition with Labour was in the late 1970′s – many will recall the mess the country was in back then with regular power cuts, rationing, strikes and a bankrupt UK. I am not saying prepare for more of the same, but is it something we can afford to forget?

I certainly hope so because I recall doing work experience in a bank as a high school student and I found it to be dead boring. I had three days to do at the Commonwealth Bank on The Corso in Manly and by the end of the first day the one advantage I had gleaned from my time in the Trading Bank section was that I most definitely did not want to go into banking when I left school! I had to wear a knee length skirt and blouse – proper work clothes – and court shoes, not sandals, so I was very uncomfortable from the off. Back then people did not make enquiries about things like what the ‘best cd rates are’ or how to apply for a lost atm card…because they did not exist in 1978.

I really did not have a lot to do in the way of hands-on work so I spent most of my time watching the tellers do their work using the old file-card system, customers account details were handwritten on a card and you had to enter their deposit and withdrawal details in the passbooks by hand. No computers anywhere. How times have changed. But whenever I go into a bank today – and that is a job in itself because the banks these days prefer you to use the machine outside – I still think I made the right decision not to work in a bank. It looks so boring!

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to get myself one of those handly little paypal debit cards; I get paid for some of the work I do here  via paypal and I have lost patience with the time it takes for the funds to transfer from paypal to my bank account. I only have the one bank account even though Arnold has been trying to persuade me for ages to get an online savings account - we have a joint one but I am not fussed about collecting accounts like he is.

So I thought getting a paypal debit card would enable me to have instant access to my money and this would be a boon when I am on holiday. The bone I have to pick is the ruddy ‘verification’ process…

First I had to verify my bank account - done; then my address – done; then my phone number – done. So why was I constantly getting denied? it was so frustrating – it turns out the reason is because I am not on the local electrol rolls. Naturally because I am not a native here and cannot vote!

I am fed up – paypal can keep their bloody debit card!

The picture at left shows very clearly how low our confidence in the way the worlds finances are being managed has slumped. Basically we just don’t believe that those at the helm of things have a clue as to which direction to move in to get the global economy back on track.

It makes you wonder where all those financial advisors get their own advice from; which Financial Advisor Services should be called in to take over from those currently making a mess of things…?

Being in the industry of giving advice to clients about money and investing right now would require nerves of steel and the foresight of a fortune teller; if I was in this game I wonder if I would do just as well with a crystal ball and a deck of cards – being able to predict the markets from one week to the next and then advise clients accordingly could only be done efficiently with expert ‘backup’.

The financiers who survive the worst ‘climates’ in current times tend to do so through utilising long established Financial Advisor Services such as LPL; companies such as this have the advantage of having been around during the high inflation and recession of the seventies which was the last time (before the 1930′s) that such a crisis had ever hit the national economy. Until now of course…