extractionism

Dylan Ratigan interviews Yves Smith on  where the money goes (h/t rjs):


Smith: Investors Are Afraid of Suing the Big Banks for Fear the Government Will Retaliate


On this episode of Greedy Bastards Antidote, we’re covering a new term from our upcoming book. This week, we’re focusing on extractionism. Joining us to discuss it is Yves Smith of nakedcapitalism.com. She is author of ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism.


This week, I talk with Yves Smith, and she opened my eyes to some radical stuff going on in the capital markets. Big Banks are extracting capital for themselves with such power that investors are actually afraid to go to the courts for redress.

Yves said that one prominent securities lawyer told her “he knows investors who he said if Jamie Dimon came into somebody’s house and killed the children of these people, he said they would be afraid to call the police.” That’s how bad the extraction has gotten. And that’s not capitalism.

But first, what is extraction, and how is it the opposite of capitalism? How can extractionist systems have all the characteristics of capitalism, while hiding the elimination of productive resources over time?

Greedy Bastards like to call themselves capitalists, but what they’re actually doing is the exact opposite: it’s extractionism: taking money from others without creating anything of value; anything that produces economic growth or improves our lives.


Under an extractionist system, we find lose value at a faster rate over time, while we need to be creating it. Instead of giving people incentives to make good deals where both sides can benefit, extractionist systems rewards those who take and take some more, and give nothing in return. Sadly, extractionism has crept its way into every aspect of our economy — it’s everywhere, from trade to taxes to banking…