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Originally Posted by Lauxa  It seems to me that maybe some of those old thyme religions had it correct and that usury (lending money at interest) is a Bad Thing. I know it is explicitly forbidden in the Koran and I think early Christians were against it as well. Well, it seems to cause all sorts of problems. Finances wars, keeps developing countries impoverished. Don't even get me started on the US paying interest to private bankers on currency production. Other loan arrangements such as profit sharing might be okay.
What do you think the world would look like without usury? What would wealthy people do with their money if they couldn't loan it out at interest? |
Still Growing, based on the wording in the OP I was looking at this discussion in terms of what the world would be without usury. The OP mentions religious teachings against usury, but not government regulations. So I have been thinking of this in terms of what the world would be like if individuals chose not to take part in the traditional lending system, due to their beliefs (religious or otherwise). I agree that adding more government regulation is not a good thing. I do think, however, that we have developed into a debt-hungry society and I am very interested in considering the impacts of seeing a reversal of this trend. Like you said with your McDonald's example, consumer demand drives the market. The only good way to have a world without usury is for individuals to refuse to take part in the system. I don't think that will ever happen, but it makes for interesting discussion.