Lenin in Imperialism talks about the emergence of finance capital as the major driver of imperial conquests. These days we have seen trends of “financialisation” of western economies coupled with deindustrialisation.
I guess what confuses me is why this trend towards financialisation is a thing where you cede real material industrial power in favour of large banks.
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That’s basically it, yes. The “financial” economy vs the “productive” economy. Rent-seeking. The FIRE economy. Neoliberalism.
Michael Hudson: Finance Capitalism versus Industrial Capitalism: The Rentier Resurgence and Takeover (PDF)
This. Michael Hudson is the best source to go to about this topic. You can also find a number of videos (he has been interviewed on Ben Norton’s channel and he frequently appears in discussions with Radhika Desai) where he explains a lot of the ideas in his books in a more concise form that you can listen to if you are not that into reading.
When you finance something, it’s done with the the understanding that the financee is obligated to provide returns on your investment.
There can also be other terms as to what they can and cannot do with your money, or even terms regarding how third parties cannot affect how the company operates.
So it’s not like giving money is one and done, but rather there’s a significant amount of “derisking” that limits the money to be only used for capitalist accumulation disregarding all else.
