Sean Vanatta Joins for a Banking Mega-Pod

To many, banking remains largely invisible—a hidden circulatory system that allocates capital and credit throughout the economy. If it's worth paying any attention to at all, it's only in moments of crisis—when things clot up, and circulation stops entirely.

But in recent years, business and financial historians have reminded us that banks are far more than quiet functionaries. In fact, they are foundational to virtually every aspect of modern life: from public and private investment, to the relationship of the state to its citizens, to the distribution of wealth, to the geographical apportionment of money. In short, understanding banking is essential to seeing how power works under capitalism.

To help us do that, I can think of no one better to have on than Sean Vanatta, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, and the author of the two books we'll be discussing today: Private Finance, Public Power: A History of Bank Supervision in America and Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control. Listen for some big-brained takes on the history—and just possibly the future—of banking in the United States.