Bank debt never went away: It became public debt Profits have improved because working people paid for them.

In short, the bad bank debt that triggered the crisis in 2008 never went away -- it was simply shifted on to governments. Private debt became public debt....Put differently, the economic crisis of 2008-9 did not really end. It simply changed form. It mutated.


With that mutation, the focus of ruling classes shifted towards a war against public services. Concerned to rein in government debts, they announced an age of austerity -- of huge cuts to pensions, education budgets, social welfare programs, wages, and jobs. In so doing, they effectively declared that working class people and the poor will pay the cost of the global bank bailout.

...

Put simply, profits have improved because working people have paid for them, through layoffs, wage cuts, reduced work hours, and the decimation of social services.


The above is from a must-read book that views the world financial meltdown of two years ago as the opening of a global systemic economic and social crisis. The book is Global Slump by David McNally, PM Press (2010)