This article on the 1907

This article on the 1907 banking crisis written on the eve of the establishment of the Fed Reserve, made interesting reading…definitely a feeling of deja vuhttp://www.marxists.org/archive/sanial/1913/general-bankruptcy.htm"Of course, the purchasing power of the plutocracy had not been reduced, and that class continued in its wasteful habits of luxury. Of the middle class the purchasing power had at first been somewhat affected, but with the recovery of prices its ability to consume was fully restored while its further ability to accumulate surplus profits, though less than formerly, became again an important factor. The whole burden of the crisis fell upon the wage-working class. Its purchasing power, even at its highest, is always very small as compared with the total product of the country. It had been steadily reduced by the rise of prices in the later years of capitalist prosperity. It was now further reduced by enforced idleness. ""In the natural course of capitalist development the Banking Power obtained supreme command over the activities of the nation. In that elevated position it lost all sense of economic responsibility, public duty and moral principle. For the purpose of illicit gain it diverted the immense wealth in its keeping from the beneficent channels of production into the maleficent channels of speculation…Unscrupulous in all its methods, it has corrupted the public powers and made them the instruments of its despotism. In its rough ride over the nation, it has, however, reached a point where it must fall under the weight of its iniquities. Nothing can save it from the consequences of its misdeeds. Its collapse is inevitable. Shall the people — the working people — allow themselves to be buried in the ruins of the banking structure? In their own hands lie the means of their own salvation. The last day of the Banking Power should be the last day of the Capitalist System and the first day of the Socialist Commonwealth."Sadly the system continued to stagger from one crisis to another.