The banking system is not the enemy.
Banks play a critical role in our society. Whether big or small, they essentially do the same thing-- financial inter-mediation. That is, they bring together those people who have savings with those people who can put those savings to use doing some activity.
Almost every company that employs any person in the private sector today gets funding from a bank and has from their inception. Too many people talk too flippantly about "bringing down the international financial system". The consequences of this would be very bad. And it would not be the 1% who are hurt the most by this. It would be the 99%. Because the 99% are the most vulnerable to any downturn in the economy.
Banking has important for the capitalist system from the beginning. The first banks to play a role similar to modern banks were the Dutch banks of the 17th century. They helped finance world trade by lending money to the Dutch East India company to trade with Asia. The result was the prosperity of tiny Netherlands that allowed it to hold at bay much greater powers like Spain and France.
Next was England. London was the center of international banking for centuries as capitalism continued to advance, financing the industrial revolution. Through all this, the banks played a role. Whatever you may say about capitalism, we all enjoy the fruits of its advances today.
The banking system is crucial for our economy and that would be so were they big or small. When banks fail, it doesn't just hurt the banks. It hurts everyone-- taxpayers, who fund the FDIC. Businesses that need credit. Consumers who need loans. Workers who need jobs from businesses that rely on banks. The entire economy is built with banks at the center.
The economy is like an ecosystem. When you take out one part of the ecosystem, it unbalances the whole thing. Different species and plants that you never thought would depend on it, start dying out. Banks are like the same thing. If the banks failed, it wouldn't just be the 1% and evil-doers that are hurt. Mostly it would be innocent people that are hurt.
The anti-bankism is over-done. Flame me now.
EDIT: I can respond to every comment here but I am not going to, for now. I will be back to check the replies later. I am NOT saying that the banking system should be immune to criticism, I only feel that we are in danger of losing, if not lost, its inter-connectedness with the rest of the economy and the real value that they add.