The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis, by Josh Kosman « Econamici.

Polly Cleveland posted a fine piece by Josh Kosman, which I commend to your attention. It provides a concrete example of something Joe Stiglitz described in his talk at the University of Queensland last week:

The financial sector (the banks and regulators) are the culprits behind the global financial crisis which has crippled the global economy. Apparently, moneylenders have been skimming 40 percent of the profits from companies that actually make and produce things. His big point was that this is not really the role of the financial sector. The financial sector’s job is to support economic growth, not cripple it.

“Finance is a means to an end,” he said. “The lack of balance between the financial sector and the economic sector was actually the real problem in this economic crisis (NOT the real estate bubble).”

Kosman’s article won’t take long to read. But it gives a good sense of one of the reasons why wealth is concentrating in America, and the extent to which the legitimate interests of ordinary working people are being subordinated to the privileges of our wealthiest.