The IMF announcement of a toxic asset hole of probably $4 Trillion is shocking but not unexpected. Some of us believe that the statement is a ‘warmer’ and that there will be more to come. It is said that worse figures have already been presented in Washington.

There is one group of people coming out of the disaster with a big smile on its face – the bankers. The make Houdini look like an amateur. Not only have they got away with privatising the profits and socialising the losses, they are right now increasing their charges, reducing their service and continuing to pay themselves outrageous bonus monies. Four of them, under the watchful eye of the political equivalent of a Kalashnikov rifle, apologised – and immediately set about stealing more of their customers’ savings. And what did we do? Some hotheads broke a few bank windows and got arrested. Otherwise we sat back and took the fiscal rape with barely a murmur.

Apart from locking them all up for a very long time and throwing away the key, there are eight things we must now do to put the situation right and prevent a recurrence of the worst of the causes of global financial bankruptcy.

First, we must make 30-day payment of bills universally statutory with an excessively high monthly interest penalty on payments delayed beyond that deadline. I know it will not be easy to enforce but if a determined effort is made it will change the culture quite quickly, improve liquidity – at the root of our problems – and keep millions of small business going which otherwise will go bankrupt. It is unforgivable that one of the largest international food and soap companies in the world should be paying its small suppliers at 90 and 180 days. That is not business, it is theft.

Second, we must make it law that all bonus-type payments to “heavy earners” should be made in the form of “Attached Shares” in their businesses. These are not stock options. They are shares issued at the current (at time of issue) market price to the value of 85% of the payees’ income above US$250,000. The remaining 15% can still be paid as normal income. These shares will not be assessed for income tax when issued but when realised. They may not be sold for seven years except in the case of death of the shareholder or his confirmed diagnosis with a terminal dread disease. Dismissal and resignation will not entitle the holder to sell his shares. Heavy earners will thus be encouraged to consider carefully the future of their businesses. Their future bonus depends on it.

Third, the law of limited liability must be changed. Designed to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in money-making ventures, it has become used as a shield for reckless financial advisers to gamble with their clients’ money on a ‘heads-I-win-tails-you-lose’ basis. It was not intended for that; we should remove this improper use of it.

Fourth, we must publish the terms and conditions of everyone employed. Current talk about transparency is poppycock. Nobody has the slightest intention of being transparent if they can possibly avoid it. People will not immediately warm to the idea of true transparency. Within a year of it being introduced 95% of the population will welcome it. The other 5% will either earn their wages or quit.

Fifth, we must reduce (yes, reduce) the regulations governing financial dealing. They have been shown to be worse than useless, and they always will be. We must substitute the law of Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) for the current nit-picking regulations that inhibit the lawful from dealing smoothly with their finances but still allow the thief to get away with it. Criminal Breach of Trust will say that there is a line of honest, transparent dealing that we all know but that is not defined in detail. Cross it and you go to prison. Where is it? You find out – and stay behind it. The courts will decide if you have crossed it. They are perfectly capable of doing so. The line is, in any case, always shifting as investors get more educated. Defining it would only mean that it gets out of date very quickly. If you don’t think this will work, have a word with me. It already works extremely effectively in a different sphere.

Sixth, we will not take back bonus and other payments from those who have earned them. We connived at the scam, we must contribute towards its solution. We won’t take the money back – provided all those I described earlier as ‘heavy earners’ make a full and complete disclosure of their take for the last ten years, for publication. Anyone found falling short of total honesty will have ten years in a cell in which to contemplate the virtues of transparency. A quality thesis written on the subject while inside could contribute to a small remission of some of the sentence.

Seventh, each public company will be required to support a Shareholders Union which will represent not only the institutional investors but the small private investor as well. Labour unions transformed the lot of the working man over approximately fifty years; Shareholder unions can transform the lot of the investor in less than five.

Eighth, we will ask all those whose assets exceed a certain amount to contribute 10% of them to the Raising Fund (to distinguish it from a Sinking Fund). The amount will vary with certain criteria such as age and responsibilities. Their names and contributions will be published and they will be awarded a special medal. The Raising Fund will be administered by a Trust and used to support businesses legitimately hard hit by the recession and where the demise of the business would cause unsupportable hardship.

Tough? True love always is. So how can these eight ideas be made politically acceptable?

I’d welcome your suggestions.