According to this article in In These Times, the proposal to break up the banks is based on a naïve idea that: a) we need to return to a smaller scale economy with national borders; and b) finance capital is evil and industrial capital is good.
This article proposes that finance capital is necessary to coordinate projects internationally. It also proposes that bank loans are necessary in order to invest in the parts of the world that need infrastructural build-up. What is suggested is public, democratic and international control over banks, which would include investments in public projects that banks currently pay no attention to. The shortcoming, and what is often the case with these proposals, is that there is nothing here which suggests how this process would work.
(aisletwentytwo / Flickr)