Why America is a bank-owned state
By Samah El-Shahat
In my last column I introduced the idea that America’s handling of the financial crisis, and in particular the way it has refused to deal with the banks, is more in keeping with how an “emerging” economy might behave and act.
So this week, I will say that America has become a bank-owned state, allowing its banking oligarchs to suffocate the economy so they can survive at any price.
As a development economist, what always made developing and poorer countries stand out was the level of inequality between individuals.
That is, the difference between how a small percentage, usually the country’s capitalists, oligarchs and those close to people in power, were overdosing on wealth as the rest struggled to make ends meet, or even survive.
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