Money, Power, and the Parasites: The Modern Bank Robbers

Money began as a tool of trade, a simple representation of value that allowed humanity to move beyond barter. It was rooted in tangible wealth—gold, silver, and other commodities that carried intrinsic worth. But over time, money has been corrupted. It has become a weapon for exploitation, wielded by bankers and government officials to extract wealth from the many for the benefit of the few. What was once a system designed to facilitate commerce has evolved into a parasitic machine, where those who produce nothing of value take far more than their share.

The financial system, as it stands today, is rigged. Bankers and financial elites have manipulated it to ensure they cannot lose. They have built a system where profits are privatized, losses are socialized, and the public pays the price—time and time again. Meanwhile, governments, complicit in this arrangement, shield banks from accountability while reaping their own rewards through conflicts of interest, insider deals, and the revolving door between public office and private finance.

But as we look toward reform, we must acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: the transition to a fairer system will be painful. Banks have become so integral to the global economy that their failure would wreak havoc on jobs, businesses, and savings. While their parasitism is undeniable, dismantling their power will require careful planning, public oversight, and a willingness to endure short-term pain for long-term stability.

The Rigged System: How Banks Became Parasites

Fractional Reserve Banking and Money Creation: At the heart of the modern banking system is fractional reserve banking, a mechanism that allows banks to lend out far more money than they hold in reserves. This creates money out of thin air, inflating the money supply without producing corresponding value. The result? Banks collect interest on loans made with money they didn’t actually have, enriching themselves while devaluing the savings of ordinary people.

History has shown this system’s dangers. Every experiment with unbacked paper money has ended in collapse, from the debasement of Roman coinage to the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany. Yet, modern bankers and central banks arrogantly believe they can defy history, printing endlessly while claiming inflation is “transitory.”

Bailouts and the Privatization of Risk: When banks fail, as they did during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, they are bailed out with taxpayer money. Trillions of dollars were pumped into the financial system through Quantitative Easing (QE), inflating asset prices and enriching the financial elite. Meanwhile, workers lost jobs, homes, and savings.

The pattern is clear: bankers take reckless risks, collect massive bonuses during the boom, and pass the bill to the public when the bust inevitably comes. They are not the financial geniuses they pretend to be. They are administrators of a rigged system, parasites on the real economy.

Public Debt as a Profit Engine: Governments, complicit in the system, issue bonds to fund their deficits. Banks buy these bonds, but they don’t use piles of cash sitting in vaults, nor do they even have the funds to invest in government bonds. Through fractional reserve banking, banks create the money to purchase bonds by crediting the government’s account with new deposits—essentially generating funds out of thin air. For example, if a bank buys a $100 million bond with a 3% reserve requirement, it creates a $100 million deposit liability, needing only $3 million in reserves. The bond becomes an asset, and the new deposit is money injected into the system. These government bonds generate interest payments that flow directly to the financial sector, funded by taxpayers. Since banks face minimal risk capital requirements for holding public debt, this creates a vicious cycle where public taxes are funneled into private profits, all while the money supply expands at the public’s expense.

It’s a gift and a grift—massive riskless return on capital. If the average interest rate yield of a bank’s government bond portfolio is 3% or greater, bankers get a 100% return on capital or more. It’s a direct flow of funds from taxes to bankers’ pockets. Nothing like making gobs of money with what the central banks call “zero-risk assets” that they get to purchase with money they have the power to create out of thin air. This funds their salaries, bonuses, and dividends while inflating their share prices. Government bonds alone have funded around 18–20% of banking profits over the last five years. (Grok Estimates)

Conflicts of Interest and Insider Deals: Government officials, despite modest salaries, often leave office extraordinarily wealthy. This is no coincidence. Through insider deals, lobbying, and conflicts of interest, they strike arrangements that benefit themselves and their allies in the financial sector. The revolving door between government and finance ensures that the system remains rigged in favor of the elite.

The Public Pays the Price For the average person, the consequences are devastating:

• Savings Destroyed: Central bank policies, particularly QE and zero interest rates, have rendered savings accounts useless. Inflation consistently outpaces returns, ensuring that money in the bank loses value over time.
• Debt Dependency: With stagnant wages and rising costs, households are forced to rely on debt to maintain their standard of living. Mortgages, credit cards, and student loans enrich banks while trapping individuals in a cycle of dependency.
• Inequality at Record Highs: The wealth gap between the financial elite and the average worker has never been wider. Those who own assets—stocks, real estate, and businesses—reap the rewards of inflated prices, while those reliant on wages struggle to keep up.

The public has been conditioned to believe that banks are essential to their well-being, that the system must be protected at all costs. But the truth is stark: the public is not being protected from banks—they are being robbed by them. Continuously. Relentlessly.

The Path to Reform: Painful but Necessary Reforming the financial system will not be easy. Banks have become so entrenched in the global economy that their failure would cause widespread disruption. However, the alternative—continuing to allow parasitism to flourish—is unacceptable. To create a fairer system, we must be prepared for short-term pain and long-term change.

• Tax Banking Profits: Banks that profit from public bailouts and monetary policy distortions must contribute to society. Taxing banking profits ensures that the public sees a return on their forced investment in the financial system.
• Cap Executive Pay for Bailed-Out Banks: Banks that require public bailouts should face strict caps on executive compensation. The days of rewarding failure with bonuses must end.
• Public Ownership of Failing Banks: If banks require bailouts, governments should take ownership stakes. This ensures that the public benefits from any future recovery and prevents banks from returning to business as usual once the crisis has passed.
• Protect Savers: Policies must ensure that savings retain their value, providing real returns that outpace inflation. This may include higher deposit insurance limits, inflation-adjusted savings accounts, and stricter oversight of monetary policy.
• Regulate Finance: Stricter regulations are needed to prevent excessive leverage, speculative bubbles, and conflicts of interest. Banks must be held accountable for their actions, with meaningful penalties for misconduct.

The Transition Will Hurt—But It’s Necessary The transition to a fairer system will be painful. Banks may fail, and governments may need to step in, owning significant portions of the financial sector. The public will need to endure economic turbulence as the system is restructured. But this pain is a necessary step toward creating a financial system that serves the economy rather than exploiting it.

The alternative is to continue down the current path, where bankers and government officials enrich themselves at the expense of the public. Where savings are eroded, debt spirals out of control, and inequality reaches unsustainable levels. Where the financial sector grows ever more parasitic, draining the lifeblood of the real economy.

Campaign Finance Reform: The financial system should serve the economy, not the other way around. Money must once again represent work, time, and energy—not manipulation and greed. Reform is not optional—it is essential.

The public must demand transparency, accountability, and fairness. We must be willing to endure short-term pain for long-term stability. Because until we reclaim the system, the robbery will continue.

Over 2005–2025, the U.S. financial sector likely contributed in the range of $11.63–13.05 billion in disclosed funds to political candidates across all government levels, with $6.35–7.08 billion to Republicans and $5.28–5.97 billion to Democrats, reflecting a slight Republican edge and recent Democratic gains (e.g., 2020, 2024). This accounts for 17–19% of the estimated $67.5 billion total political contributions. Additionally, the sector and its employees likely added $425–700 million in dark money, with $170–420 million from employees (mostly executives), amplifying its influence. Estimates exclude inflation and assume 2024 trends as of February 28, 2025, though exact figures are limited by data gaps.

Democracy is dead, our politicians are bought and paid for. The only question is who owns who. To conclude this article, I’ll point out that I’m a realist, a pragmatic contrarian. I don’t expect these problems to be solved anytime soon. In fact, I unfortunately expect them to get worse before they get better.

Inflation will eventually be the catalyst for change—throughout history, it’s nearly always been the case. The crony capitalism and the parasitic nature of our economic systems eventually lead to revolts, be it revolutions or mass strikes and protests. This comes about when the masses simply can’t take any more economic pain. The returns on hard labor become so terrible that dramatic action is finally taken. This adds to every commodity bull cycle. This cycle will be no different, and through it all, because of history, I recommend holding significant amounts of “poor man’s gold.” Silver is cheap, and there’s already a global supply/demand deficit due to its many and growing uses.