The author mentions casually that through the use of loans to the state that the medicis created a reciprocal relationship with bureaucrats who then owed them favors.

That extreme influence is then ignored in the what do we do in modern times recap.

Look no further than George Soros to learn the lesson of the Medicis modernized by campaign contributions instead of state loans.

The Chinese have, with their belt and Road initiative, simply duplicated that aspect in modern times to great effect