Is banking today like mining was in the 1980s?

The difference is the miners produce something of value. While banksters are nonproductive parasites leaving poverty in there wake.

Samp is wrong about greed & incompetence. Even when they were some of the best paid paid workers in Britain, they still went on strike for more money, and if getting their way meant using violence, so be it.

They lost the final strike by incompetence, following a WWI style leader who cared nothing for his troops. Even though they had personally dug the coal, & saw it piled up, they couldn't work out that this meant we had reserves to last until they gave up.
They were actually paid overtime by the Thatcher government to make sure there was a good stockpile. Greed mixed with stupidity.

Although Britain has huge reserves of coal, it had some of the most expensive energy because not only were the miners overpaid, but they vetoed the use of cheaper mining. This undermined manufacturing big time, as did the frequent power cuts caused by their strike.

I hate to use fascist ideas like "numbers", but look at the stats for people burned to death in their homes during strikes.

I laugh openly at the idea the finance will be less London centered. Regional centres will drop below critical mass and the cost savings to be had from working outside London are being rapidly eroded.

The only similarity is that banking industry is also in the decline. But it will not disappear like the mining industry did. It will be smaller, less rewarding and probably less cantered in London.
We don't need Arthur Scargill for banking, because miners did not pull down the whole economy by their greed and incompetence. There is nothing to defend here.

What a great comparison, I look forward to the BBA calling bankers onto the street to riot against the police, oh hang on wasn't that just a boozy dinner on bonus night.

There is huge overcapacity: products, exchanges,MTFs, services no one wants or needs.
Of course its not going to go away but there'll be less of it, less people doing it and i think we all agree it must be less lucrative.