Banks ?

An interesting and provokative read : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-pettifor/the-broken-global-banking_b_748628.html.

And a couple of excerpts :

"By borrowing from the real economy, and then refusing to lend, except at high rates of interest, bankers are effectively performing a lobotomy on the real economy. They are cutting critical credit connections to and from the vital 'cortex' -- the region of the economy responsible for investment and the creation of jobs. Without a sound banking system and cheap, carefully regulated credit, the public and private sectors will not invest in e.g. green jobs or infrastructure. Output will continue to plummet, and unemployment and poverty to rise."

" Like the asylums of yesteryear, banks are no longer fit for purpose. Their treatment of businesses and households is blunt and brutal. Built on monetary theory as outdated as Victorian lunatic asylums, the banking system is likely to implode again. That is why governments are cutting back on spending, and shoring up funds -- fully expecting another banking bailout. The governor of the European Central Bank declared as much in the FT on 5 September, this year."