> That large part of the financial system is glorified and useless gambling designed to extract rents by intermediaries is a matter of record [0].

Financialization is not necessarily about useless finance taking bigger and bigger roles in the economy. Finance can be useful, and can get very complex, and so it could make sense that it became a big part of the economy. Now, I cannot say for sure that the finance industry is useful enough for it to be that big a part of the economy as it is, but I'm open to the idea (also open to the opposite idea). My point is that what you portray as a "matter of record" is a biased interpretation of what financialization is, not consensus (though may still be true).