The modern financial services industry is a casino attached to a utility. The utility is the payments system, which enables individuals and non-financial companies to manage their affairs. The utility allows them to borrow and lend for their routine activities, and allocates finance in line with the fundamental value of business activities. In the casino, traders make profits from arbitrage and short-term price movements." ("The Long and Short of It" by John Kay, pp. 218-219).
The distinction between the Casino and the Utility was recognized in the Banking Act of 1933 (the Glass-Steagall Act). It enforced separation between investment banking and commercial banking. This separation was abolished in 1999. The consequences of this are sufficiently serious for the concerned citizen to inquire in the nature of money, banking, and the ramifications of this that have become known as the "financial services industry".
This site is addressed at those who, like me, are not in the industry, but have minds developed in other directions.
