Are you ashamed of being a banker? How ashamed?

In London I hear tell that some bankers are shy of admitting this. In Madrid I read that 'bankers have made some pitiful attempts to use their services by pretending to be engineers or architects.' In Madrid there is another reason why some bankers are hiding their chosen profession and according to Russia Today it is all down to another profession (the oldest profession):

'Madrid’s high-class escorts have found a way to regulate the Spanish banking sector. The ladies want to have their say in the economy by withholding sexual pleasures from bank employees.

The largest trade association for luxury escorts in the Spanish capital has gone on a general and indefinite strike on sexual services for bankers until they go back to providing credits to Spanish families, small- and medium-size enterprises and companies.

It all started with one of the ladies who forced one of her clients to grant a line credit and a loan simply by halting her sexual services until he “fulfills his responsibility to society.”

The trade association's spokeswoman praised their success by stressing the government and the Bank of Spain have previously failed to adjust the credit flow.

"We are the only ones with a real ability to pressure the sector," she stated. “We have been on strike for three days now and we don't think they can withstand much more.”

She has revealed that bankers have made some pitiful attempts to use their services by pretending to be engineers or architects.

“But they don't fool anyone since it has been many years since these professionals could afford rates that start from 300 euro an hour," she continued.

The bankers reportedly became so desperate that they even decided to call in the government for mediation.

The Mexican website SDPnoticias.com, which initially published the story, cites the Minister of Economy and Competitiveness as admitting that the lack of legislation regulating the escort sector makes it very difficult for the government to intercede in the conflict.

"In fact, there has not even been a formal communication of the strike — the escorts are making use of their right of admission or denying entry to…well, you know. So no one can negotiate," he was quoted as saying.'

A fascinating story that reminds me of the Aristophanes play Lysistrata in which one, Lysistrata, persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace and thus end the Peloponnesian War.