The Dictatorship of Financial Capitalism

—Capitalism, in its current configuration as the global dictatorship of finance capital, is committing crimes against humanity and devastating the planet

What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank? - Bertold Brecht

Alejandro Teitelbaum

In 1968, a Minnesota court decision highlighted the nature of financial capital. The litigation pitted a private individual, Mr Daly, against a bank, the First National Bank of Montgomery, his mortgagee. When Mr Daly fell behind in his payments to the Bank, it wanted to collect on the house. Daly argued that in the mortgage there was no reciprocity from the Bank, as the Bank did not possess the mortgage money, since the loan amount had been created out of thin air at the time the credit was authorised. By crediting in its accounts that 14,000 dollars were granted to Daly, the bank had created money and had not taken it out of a pre-existing asset. In other words, the bankdid not go into its vault to withdraw that sum in banknotes to lend to Daly. The court in its ruling upheld Daly’s claim that the mortgage contract was void because it lacked a legitimate consideration by the bank. As a result, the bank’s claim to Mr Daly’s house had no legal basis.


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