Quote from: ctoon6 on October 05, 2011, 08:05:04 PM

yet another reason why we need a new system that punishes people that hoard.

i firmly believe that you should not be able to make money simply by having money, it just does not make sense to me. and others think the same, the Christians thought it was usury and the Islam people do too. i think it is a broken system, and needs to be stopped inside the currency its self. although i don't know how loaning would work. but i always go by the principal of save instead of get credit for it. for a rough example

take a 165k house for 360 months loan or 30 years at 7% interest. you would pay about 1100 a month. however if you took that 1100 a month and stashed it away every month for 150 months, you could buy that house right up front, and not give any money to the banks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

Calls out people for hoarding bitcoins, then suggests people hoard fiat currency....

Also, have a look at the Time Value of Money as to why interest rates are charged (What else could a bank/individual be doing with that money if they didn't loan it to you and what kind of return could they be getting investing in a business, making widgets, etc.) As a person or bank, why would I loan you money on the hope that I someday get back only the amount I loaned you? One of the complaints of our economy currently is small businesses can't get loans to raise inventory, invest in PP+E, etc, why would you take away the ability for all of these people to get loans? Loans, interest and debt are not bad things if used correctly and are a necessary tool of business.
Interest has been around since the earliest ideas of money and even in most usury systems it was only frowned upon to charge interest to members of the same ethnic group you belonged to, and in Islamic laws instead of charging interest they engage in profit sharing, joint ventures and cost plus...a rose by any other name.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_value_of_money/

Also, in your example that's 12.5 years of savings to get a house assuming that in your system there is no interest to be had by saving that amount of money. So now they've had to wait for 12.5 years before buying the house (where did they live for those 12.5 years and did it cost them anything?) and even though interest might not exist in your system, would the home value have appreciated even slightly?

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