We want to force a shift ... back to the relatively small lending operations to Main Street.

That's a nice idea, and gets to the essence of what we will need to do, however, I don't think it will work. The problem is that the return on productive investments started to drop in the late-60s/early-70s and has continued to fall ever since.

The current situation, which can be described as the flight of capital from production into speculation, is probably, more than anything, a result of the decreased ROI in production.

So, if small lenders are to provide the credit for commerce and industry, they will have to accept small profits. Will they? I have my doubts. Is there another way? Maybe so. How about a non-profit national bank, one that is owned by the people, and that has as its sole mission to foster the conditions where goods and services that people need are produced?

I have written about this problem over there.