… banks must be made to work like banks
“Under capitalism, the financial sector was adjunct to the real sector. The financial sector served as the circulatory system, efficiently allocating funds to the most productive agents within the real or manufacturing sector to keep that sector vibrant. Such vibrancy generates employment for the bulk of the people. High levels of employment give birth to stability and a standard of living conducive to democratic aspirations.
This complementary scenario no longer exists. The financial sector is no longer satisfied with being the branch. To a large degree, it has assumed the role of the tree and its trunk. The financial sector no longer complements the real sector. It has grown too large in comparison. Its appetite is ceaseless and grows with the eating. Instead of feeding funds to the real sector, it now chokes the real sector. Leaving many otherwise productive people and companies struggling to draw water from an empty well.
Under capitalism, the financial sector invested in production of tangible goods. Today, the financial sector specializes in financial investment. Having become insatiable, it rather invests in itself than invest in the rest of the economy so that other sectors prosper with it. Financial speculation used to be the province of a small set of risk takers. Today, it is the fad.
Cautious and prudent bankers were once sentinels of the financial sector. Things are different under financialism. Caution has been tossed to the four winds as the economy was tossed to the wolves. The banker who keeps his wits to function in the best traditions of banking is the exception. I salute those men and women who honor their professional tenets while others turned esteemed financial houses into lax casinos. However, their demonstrations of individual propriety proved insufficient to halt the systemic distortion that occurred. Today, we have a big problem”.- PBAT ( 2013)
Opeoluwa @OpeBee on his X handle
