RAM
Hail the keys!
Among more liberal and open-minded communities there is more-or-less an implied consensus that banks and the bankers who run them are evil and corrupt. I have heard many people claim that they use debt to control and influence society in unfair ways.
While I consider myself to be both liberal and extremely open-minded, I fail to see the validity of many of these types of claims. I believe that financial transactions are imperative to the operation of society. Loans are needed for people to purchase necessary things that they cannot afford otherwise, such as cars, houses, and college tuition. But to motivate lenders with capital to give loans, there must be some kind of interest, or the cost of borrowing, involved.
Also, the stock market allows individuals to purchase part ownership in corporations and influence the decisions of the corporation using proxy voting. Usually each share owned of a company entitles the owner to one vote, and the results of these votes are then considered by the board of directors while making corporate policy. The stock market also allows for appreciation of wealth over time, assuming the right companies or indexes are chosen. Many people have retirement accounts invested in such products, as the money they want the money they earn now for retirement to appreciate over time.
Furthermore banks allow for the safe storage of money. It would be difficult to keep $100,000 cash in your household without feeling vulnerable, so banks give you the option to deposit it and be able to retrieve it conveniently (and after the Great Depression and New Deal this money is now insured by the Federal government up to $250,000 per account). The money and stock markets also allow other options for storage of capital.
I also find movements such as Occupy Wall St. to be fundamentally flawed because it's not like the majority of those people stopped using their credit cards or stopped taking out loans for cars/tuition to punish the financial system. They just complained about it and disrupted NYC, but they did not really use their dollars wisely which would have really been the best form of protest. But I think they did not want to give up the comforts that using their cards and loans allowed them, because in fact these things can be used to improve society.
I prefer to operate under the capitalist mantra of "if you don't like it, don't buy it." People can easily vote with their dollars, and not buying something on a mass scale is a true form of protest, especially as if enough people do it, the company will have to change their practices or will go bankrupt. So if you think the banking system is not fair in some manner, just don't use it!
I just want to see what my fellow Nexians think about this manner. I'd like to have a rational discussion rather than one fueled by emotion, but I would like to see if/where my views fall short.
While I consider myself to be both liberal and extremely open-minded, I fail to see the validity of many of these types of claims. I believe that financial transactions are imperative to the operation of society. Loans are needed for people to purchase necessary things that they cannot afford otherwise, such as cars, houses, and college tuition. But to motivate lenders with capital to give loans, there must be some kind of interest, or the cost of borrowing, involved.
Also, the stock market allows individuals to purchase part ownership in corporations and influence the decisions of the corporation using proxy voting. Usually each share owned of a company entitles the owner to one vote, and the results of these votes are then considered by the board of directors while making corporate policy. The stock market also allows for appreciation of wealth over time, assuming the right companies or indexes are chosen. Many people have retirement accounts invested in such products, as the money they want the money they earn now for retirement to appreciate over time.
Furthermore banks allow for the safe storage of money. It would be difficult to keep $100,000 cash in your household without feeling vulnerable, so banks give you the option to deposit it and be able to retrieve it conveniently (and after the Great Depression and New Deal this money is now insured by the Federal government up to $250,000 per account). The money and stock markets also allow other options for storage of capital.
I also find movements such as Occupy Wall St. to be fundamentally flawed because it's not like the majority of those people stopped using their credit cards or stopped taking out loans for cars/tuition to punish the financial system. They just complained about it and disrupted NYC, but they did not really use their dollars wisely which would have really been the best form of protest. But I think they did not want to give up the comforts that using their cards and loans allowed them, because in fact these things can be used to improve society.
I prefer to operate under the capitalist mantra of "if you don't like it, don't buy it." People can easily vote with their dollars, and not buying something on a mass scale is a true form of protest, especially as if enough people do it, the company will have to change their practices or will go bankrupt. So if you think the banking system is not fair in some manner, just don't use it!
I just want to see what my fellow Nexians think about this manner. I'd like to have a rational discussion rather than one fueled by emotion, but I would like to see if/where my views fall short.
