'Lost Credit' is the name of the report presented on Monday about the build up to the financial crisis in the Netherlands. The title is no exaggeration, because the trust of the average citizen in the financial world, its supervisors and in politics in general has been badly damaged. The recovery of that trust is still nowhere near in sight.

 Everyone bears the blame for the credit crisis, conclude the Dutch MPs who investigated its beginnings. Starting with the banking sector, which took "unacceptable risks", says Socialist MP Jan de Wit, who headed the investigation.

 "These were risks that totally lost track of the public interest. That one reason it's irresponsible to want to switch to 'business as usual'. That's why too much went wrong. Substantial measures are required. That demands urgent, vigorous actions by the government. It calls for more active supervision and it demands more self-examination by the financial sector itself. If one thing in particular has struck the committee, it's the lack of critical introspection within that sector."
 
Legacy
But it was also the Netherlands Central Bank, other financial watchdogs and the politicians who made mistakes. And it cost billions of euros in public money to save the Dutch economy from the jaws of the crisis.
 
In the meantime, ordinary citizens have been left with an unpleasant legacy: increased uncertainty and redundancies. And the prospect of lasting, sweeping cuts in social security payments, defence, education, healthcare and culture required to close the shortfall of billions.
 
Lack of transparency
The uncertainty among the 'ordinary' people was increased by the financial world's lack of transparency. Only the 'inner circle' of the banking world knew what was really happening. "Financial supervisors lacked the knowledge and the courage to sound the alarm on time," said the economist Sweder van Wijnbergen during the hearings held by the investigating committee.
 
A much-repeated criticism was that the commission itself lacked the required expertise to cross-examine those involved vigorously enough. That is not so strange, says economist Arjo Klamer from Rotterdam's Erasmus University. For 30 years he has seen how his best students with the most talent have gone to work in the financial sector. "And the less talented, the ones who go to work for government, can't keep up with them."
 
Out of proportion
You cannot solve the dilemma of big money having such a head start at national level. If you do, the bankers under attack will very quickly head out of the country. Arjo Klamer:
 
"It indicates how far out of proportion the financial world is: it’s much too powerful and - you can see this in the fuss about the euro - the governments are dancing to the tune of the financial world and not vice versa."
 
A number of southern European countries have almost capsized under the weight of irresponsible policy, ostrich-like politicians and the consequences of the credit crisis. Once more, ordinary people are looking suspiciously at the financial constructions being dreamt up to fill in the new holes.