Abstract:
Bertolt Brecht famously asked which was the greater crime; robbing or founding a bank. Such a question suggested that there were larger, ‘invisible’ forms of theft inherent to capitalism itself. If Brecht’s question was once radical and provocative, after the GFC and the nihilistic behaviour of the banks it is easier to see the less noble aspect of capitalism – how thievery moves toward the centre rather than the periphery of multinational finance. Indeed the behaviour of the corporate sector – trading of bad debts, junk assets and the collapse and bailout of those ‘too big to fail’ makes it possible today to both found and rob a bank at the same time.
Details / PDF:
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