Paula,
I understand Lenin to be claiming the omnipotence of (large) banks RELATIVE TO other industries or sectors of capitalist activity, due to their very large investment stakes and the political clout which this gives the banks.
My point is just that, whereas the banks do manage an awful lot of stocks, deposits and securities (as you can gauge from IMF data quite easily), they are not all-powerful, for quite a number of reasons - including that many if not most large corporations are self-financed to a great extent, and that there are also many non-bank organizations involved in capital finance.
During the financial crisis - which wiped out a lot of small and not-so-small banks - the Dutch finance minister for example seriously considered nationalizing all Dutch banks - which should indicate something about the power relationships involved. In many developing countries, the banks are kept solvent only with state backing.
Precisely because banks are involved in the credit business, in which trust and timing are crucial, they are also highly vulnerable in many ways, and the financial crisis also brought this out. I would not deny that banks represent very powerful interests. But by attributing "omnipotence" to the banks, they are granted a power which they simply do not have. If you don't believe me, ask the bankers themselves!
Jurriaan
_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
Received on Tue Apr 12 18:25:20 2011
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Apr 30 2011 - 00:00:03 EDT