Everything Is Becoming a Bank
Most major corporations — from airlines to social media platforms — now aspire to become unregulated banks. Bankification today accounts for the highest profit margins in the US economy, crippling productive capacity and setting the stage for the next crash.
Airlines lose money on flights and make windfall profits off credit cards and frequent-flyer programs that are bad for consumers. But the phenomenon isn’t limited to flying banks like Delta — almost every major US corporation now aspires to be a bank. (Mustafa Kaya / Xinhua via Getty Images)
The US economy is turning into one giant bank.
Starbucks holds nearly $2 billion of customers’ money in its rewards program. That’s more than the total deposits managed by 85 percent of chartered banks, making the coffee chain one of the biggest financial institutions in the country.
Conversely, Capital One, one of the world’s top banks, now operates its own cafes on city street corners.
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