A progressive approach to the transformation of economic life requires that finance be enlisted in the service of the productive agenda of the society. In the existing market economy, there are three enigmas about finance:

1. The production system is self-financed by the retained and reinvested earnings of private firms. For most, the financing of production relies on funds generated within the production system itself.
2. In good times, finance is largely indifferent to the real economy. In bad times, it becomes destructive. The real economy goes along by itself, financing itself from within. In bad times its becomes destructive. This is shown in crisis and volatility in economics which can over flow and threaten real economic activity.
3. The financing of the creation of new assets in new ways is a miniscule part of financial activity. We can relate this very much to venture capital.

All these enigmas have the same fundamental cause. The cause is the looseness between finance and production. The financial structure grows. Its contribution to real productive activity and innovation is completely disproportionate to its parasitic relation to the economy. The best way to make finance less dangerous is to make it more useful.