61–70 of 74 posts
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In Europe banks give 2-2.5% on deposits these days while real inflation is in double digits, at least. When US banks give double the yield on deposits you know something's off.
That's not true. You can easily get, in Italy, over 4% on 12mo-locked saving accounts (random comparison website : https://www.confrontaconti.it/conto-migliore/miglior-conto-d... ), and Italy inflation right now is around 6%.
The idea that banks are private companies in any country is not entirely true. Everyone knows that if a reasonably big bank fails, governments will intervene to protect people's money. Banks are technically private but won't be valued as much without government protection. So, to some extent, it's not wrong for the government to tax them more than other private companies. However, a negative consequence of this tax i…
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Islam forbids interest, so religion kinda has something to do with banks. But capitalism uh.. finds a way
it does not. there is absolutely no basis for "islam forbits interest". the way "islamic banking" was envisioned, they created a problem then suggested an alternative which is the same thing, just with arabic names. there is something called "shariah compliant banking" but "islamic banking" on its own is a misnomer and doesn't exist. don't believe me, here is a video of Dr. Mohammad Shahrour on the subject. https://w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riba
> While Muslims agree that riba is prohibited, not all agree on what precisely it is.[2][3] It is often used as an Islamic term for interest charged on loans,[Note 1] and the belief this is based on — that there is a consensus among Muslims that all loan/bank interest is riba — forms the basis of a $2 trillion Islamic banking industry
This is enough to negate what you said here:
>it does not. there is absolutely no basis for "islam forbits interest".
Could you explain what you mean here?
>the problem didn't exist till then so someone just literally invented it and then sold a solution
What problem didn't exist and what was invented and what was the solution?
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Not really, there’s just nothing to gain from doing so and a lot to lose.
Oh please, sharks do not need your defense.
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> It also implies a booming, healthy economy where more people want.money to start businesses Lol, have you ever been to Italy...? Banks will not lend to you unless you're quite rich already. Catholicism says debit bad , and the country is pretty conservative as a whole. Italian banks making money implies two things: them screwing consumers (famously called literally "available cattle", il parco buoi , in local finan…
??? have YOU ever been to italy? from my experience banks are totally going to lend you money for you mortgage if you have a non-temporary contract that covers 80% of your house cost. you just need to have roughly 30% of the house cost cash and a stable job that pays enough, but with a 1.3k net salary (median income) and 30k you can totally buy a 110k home talking about the north, if you live in the south just move a…
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> It also implies a booming, healthy economy where more people want.money to start businesses Lol, have you ever been to Italy...? Banks will not lend to you unless you're quite rich already. Catholicism says debit bad , and the country is pretty conservative as a whole. Italian banks making money implies two things: them screwing consumers (famously called literally "available cattle", il parco buoi , in local finan…
Hey, as an Italian, this is a superficial, cliché-ridden opinion from someone who does not know the country much.
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Oh, please ... I know bankers in my personal network actively boasting about how they're managing to the play the situation with interest rates to maximise profit without doing anything productive to achieve it. "We've never had it so good" ... Next up, the energy sector.
That doesn't change my point. Those bankers are probably equally unaware of the actual long-term effects this will have. What I mean is that there are no easy fixes for anything and I'm always skeptical of any action driven by populism. The politicians know that people only care about the first stage of effects. With that said, I'm no different and I wish the same happened in my country. I am however aware that my fe…
However, we're aware of the long-term effects not taxing banks enough brings about, so trying something different seems like a good idea, even if we don't know all of the effects until later.
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What does that have do with Religion? Most banks everywhere behave the same way..
highly religious countries trend more conservative. Italy is a highly conservative country. Not sure if that explains their financial problems, probably not. on edit: An Italian coworker just pointed out he wouldn't say Italy was very conservative, which I guess in a lot of ways is true - especially when compared to U.S and some other countries. Maybe actually the 'Conservative' - 'Liberal' labeling doesn't work well…
Obviously I'm painting with a very broad brush. There are virtuous businesses, like anywhere; and it's still a G8 country with a massive economy. But it's not a country that, as a whole, values economic risk-taking. Somewhat ironically, I think we were more daring when the overall system was less free-market-oriented (the Italian State used to own a lot of large "strategic" businesses directly, up until the '90s), maybe because rich folks had to show they were better than the State at running things.
On social issues, it's a different (and very complex) story.
More discussion over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37049786