Left out of it, Congress and the state legislatures withered. Corporations which had been eager to pay off politicians to win their way in the world, found their way in the world was subject to community self-reliance. As neighborhood banking has taken over, the excess of capital which had fueled the industrial age has dried up. Corporations now look more and more to the communities for both funding their local ventures and for permission to establish their production facilities. Without political purpose, Congress has returned to providing standards for unifying the nation of communities and helping the communities link with one another in mutual aid.
Bankers are, of course, distraught at the growing community independence.
Rather than go to internationally owned banks for high interest loans, local citizens are borrowing funds to start worker-owned businesses from their own community banks. With this community-based financial system, small local enterprises are now able to compete with the major industrial businesses. The community production system works because of rapidly changing technologies and styles, and the need to produce for different climates and different ecosystems. The old capital-heavy manufacturing system was unable to keep pace. As soon as it was tooled up to use one new technology to meet the new style, both the technology and style had changed.