I received an email this week from a friend of mine that gives some eye-watering figures.

Just over a year ago Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) paid $100bn for ABN Amro – 80 per cent in cash. For this amount, RBS could today buy:

• Citibank for $22.5bn;
• Morgan Stanley $10.5bn;
• Goldman Sachs $21.0bn;
• Merrill Lynch $12.3bn;
• Deutsche Bank $13.0bn;
• Barclays $12.7bn;
• And still have $8bn change

I haven’t checked these numbers, but the fact is that in the current climate it is entirely believable. It also reminds me of a recent message on the blog of US documentary-maker Michael Moore, hardly known as a friend to big business, but certainly an astute commentator.

The US auto-giants GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all haemorrhaging cash and now going cap-in-hand to the US government for a $34bn bailout. Moore pointed out that all common stock in GM could be purchased for around $3bn. So, we could save the government a load of money by just supporting earlier intervention and then supporting a massive wave of innovation in transport – a Marshall plan for the auto industry. Why bail them out with more cash when the current bosses will just deliver more of the same?

Joseph Schumpeter popularised the term “creative destruction” in which companies or industries would naturally die, to be replaced by the newer and stronger. It seems we are now witnessing Schumpeter’s vision on a daily basis.