‘Financialisation is killing the economy’: Readers debate

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Hi Diogenes,

Welcome to openDemocracy's weekly reader comments round-up. We receive so many carefully considered messages about our work that it seems a shame to keep them to ourselves. Send us your thoughts for next week's round-up by replying directly to any of our emails or commenting on our articles or Instagram posts.

These comments are edited for clarity, accuracy and length, and aren't necessarily a reflection of openDemocracy's editorial position.

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Re: Forced to work on an overheated planet

We should've dealt with our environmental problems years ago. I'm afraid it's getting too late! Had governments dealt with it 50 years ago, we may have been in a more stable population and environmental situation now. Good luck with your efforts today, I will continue to support all and any efforts to save the planet and the wild. –G.W.Howe

Year after year, the planet continues to heat up, and politicians and those with money and power do very little about it. Disasters of various sizes and frequency are occurring on a regular basis due to the increased global temperature. But few people seem to be thinking about the fact that the central areas of the planet could soon become uninhabitable. Their citizens will be forced to flee to cooler climes, mostly in the northern hemisphere. If the powers that be think we have a problem with would-be immigrants now, they ain't seen nothing yet. –Dr. David Manovitch

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Re: Weekly Poll: Are politicians right to claim a stronger financial sector boosts the economy?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to participate in the poll each week.

Whether it boosts the economy or not, it won't be in the interests of Joe or Jane Public. –Mick Hackett

A neoliberal capitalist economy? Probably. An economy trying to move beyond neoliberalism, not so much. –Don Flynn

You'd think the answer would be yes, but the truth is that the financial sector is so greedy, so determined to maximise benefit to its insatiable self, that it benefits none but the extremely wealthy. You don't need to study the financial pages of the FT to realise that! –Val Gaize

Yes, but not on its own. The financial sector is primarily concerned with making money for investors, who want as high a return as possible dependent on the 'risk' factor they wish to take. Unfortunately, the phrase 'trickle-down economics' promoted by Margaret Thatcher in particular does not work well in redistributing wealth across society or creating a stable economy in which other, non-financial businesses thrive. It's too long to go into here, but for politicians to stress financial services as the main way to grow the economy, and therefore to serve all the population in whatever way is necessary, will not succeed on its own. –Irene

Years ago, in the time of the previous Labour government, I worked in financial services and ended up at a lunch organised by some trade paper. The guest speaker was Gordon Brown's junior minister, who talked about the need to deregulate the financial services industry. The result was the Natwest/RBS scandal; a crisis that Gordon Brown was praised for handling well, despite him having helped to create it. The financial sector is an industry we need, but it needs tightly regulating and I really wonder where Labour is? Do we need hedge funds? –Ian Hall

'Politicians' should know that 'a stronger financial sector' led to the 2008 triumph, the tsunami that still damages us today. Similarly, what does 'boosting' the economy mean? More for the haves and/or more for the have-nots? If the financial sector did more than play with currencies and seriously dedicated itself to investment in the UK, I might think the 'politicians' could be right. –rblows2

No. The financial sector's success is judged by returns to private investors and not measured against public good. An analysis of how the resources monopolised by finance could be redepolyed more beneficially would be a useful counter to the ideological justifications for boosting the finance sector. –Bill

Financisation is killing the economy. When companies such as Apple and Pfizer spend more on share buy-backs than on R&D, innovation is stifled. Individual wealth is largely created by gambling on shares and investments, rather than by creating something useful to society, and governments should use taxation to balance this.

The UK has largely ditched its interest in the real economy (in favour of financial services) and our politicians do little or nothing to address the matter. –Dave McCulloch