Knowing how pedantic Dijkstra were, I am sure he was talking about money, not value. (EDIT: gsk is more accurate than I am on this.)
Now, there is a way to literally "make money": producing it out of thin air (this produces zero value by itself). Central banks do it by printing bank notes, the others do it through loans (using a complicated recursive scheme I don't fully understand).
Dijkstra's animosity against bank is understandable: they create money (about 90% of it) out of nothing, make loans with it (for an interest rate, not for a fee), and sometimes even speculate with your deposit (which is 90% created money by them). Despite the current regulation systems, this sounds like an awful lot of power in the hands of private interests.
Now, there is a way to literally "make money": producing it out of thin air (this produces zero value by itself). Central banks do it by printing bank notes, the others do it through loans (using a complicated recursive scheme I don't fully understand).
Dijkstra's animosity against bank is understandable: they create money (about 90% of it) out of nothing, make loans with it (for an interest rate, not for a fee), and sometimes even speculate with your deposit (which is 90% created money by them). Despite the current regulation systems, this sounds like an awful lot of power in the hands of private interests.