Commission-based financiers possessed phantom-like unreality and lacked real control

Evidence

The main economic characteristic of the financier is that he earns his profits not from production and exploitation or exchange of merchandise or normal banking, but solely through commissions. This is important in our context because it gives him that touch of unreality, of phantom-like existence and essential futility even in a normal economy, that are typical of so many South African events. The financiers certainly did not exploit anybody and they had least control over the course of their business ventures, whether these turned out to be common swindles or sound enterprises belatedly confirmed. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 519

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the financier’s commission-based economy from production-based capitalism, a key distinction for the imperialism toolkit.
• XREF: connects to: Exploding mortgage-security demand forced lenders to invent worthless borrowers. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 94; Shadow banking drove the crisis as much as mortgage defaults did — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 813