A new 51-page report by the Roosevelt Institute shows that between 1990 - 2023 (projected) the finance sector will have been a net cost to the American economy of $12.9 trillion – $22.7 trillion. This astronomical amount, composed of:
(1) rents, or excess profits;
(2) misallocation costs, or the price of diverting resources away from non-financial activities; and
(3) crisis costs, meaning the cost of the 2008 financial crisis means that the average family has half the retirement savings it would have had otherwise. It means while financial services profits have skyrocketed, ordinary wages have stagnated.