This article approaches an understanding of the current credit crunchby exploring the structural transformation of Wall Street since the mid 1980s to show that the resulting financial structures and financial agents have been the driving force behind the current credit crunch. After sketching the main elements of this New Wall Street financial system to show how the crisis took such spectacular forms, the article probes deeper into the socio-economic and socio-political characteristics of American capitalism as it has evolved since the 1970s to gain a better understanding of the deeper roots of the current crisis. It concludes by showing possible implications of the crisis for the financial system as well as structural trends in long-term credit-debt relations in the world economy.
