There’s nothing surer: The rich get rich and the poor get laid off;
Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor is a classical political-economic argument, stating that in the advanced capitalist societies state policies assure that more resources flow to the rich than to the poor, for example in form of transfer payments. The term corporate welfare is widely used to describe the bestowal of favorable treatment to particular corporations by the government. One of the most commonly raised forms of criticism are statements that the capitalist political economy toward large corporations allows them to “privatize profits and socialize losses.” The argument has been raised and cited on many occasions.
The notion that banks privatize profits and socialize losses dates at least to the 19th century, as in this 1834 quote of Andrew Jackson:
I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. … You are a den of vipers and thieves.
â€â€Andrew Jackson in 1834 on closing the Second Bank of the United States
William Henry Harrison said, in an October 1, 1840 speech,
I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Andrew Jackson, in his 1832 bank veto, said that
when the laws undertake… to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society… have a right to complain of the injustice to their Government.
In Financial capitalism, financial intermediaries become large concerns, ranging from banks to investment firms, such that deposit banks attract deposits and lend out money while investment banks obtain funds on the interbank market to relend for investment purposes. Investment firms, by comparison, act on behalf of other concerns, by selling their equities or securities to investors, for investment purposes
The meaning of the term Financial capitalism however goes beyond the importance of financial intermediation in the modern capitalist economy. It also econompasses the significant influence of the wealth holders on the political process and the aims of economic policy.
Some consider Financial capitalism the final stage of capitalism, ending in financial instability and depression.
