23 August

The bank manager is a great way to see the outcome of decades of anti-establishment culture. They were once a central figure in a local community, getting money involved a discussion and negotiation with the manager, who knew you and other members of the community, and took an oversight role of the community’s finances. All of that has been replaced with tools like credit ratings, and the local manager (if there even is a local branch) is heading up a retail outlet for centrally designed and branded financial products, which they’re tasked with flogging to you.