I wonder what would happen if when you borrowed $7000 that the maximum you would have to pay back was $7700?
Would the world suddenly crumble?
When we buy houses we pay well over 100% interest over the term of the mortgage. What would happen if it was restricted to 15%?
What if it was impossible to access more than $8000 of credit in total from multiple sources? Banks already share information via your credit record. They know how many credit cards you’ve applied for.
The idiotic thing about the financial crisis gripping the world is the idea that we are powerless against it. Caught in market forces and simply reacting. WE MADE THE RULES! We created it! If we decided tomorrow that the maximum salary of a CEO was 40 times the lowest paid worker then that would be that.
If we decided that all company debts of all kinds had to recorded on the balance sheet then that would that … also.
If we decided you could only ever get into $8000 of debt before your wages were automatically deducted to pay for it … that would be that.
If we decided to tax international currency speculation just a few percent we’d wipe out currency speculation.
I’ve read so many claims about high wages attracting merit and the best etc and without it we wouldn’t get those amazing people. Right, so if the wage was $100,000 rather than $400,000, we couldn’t find amazingly capable people for that position?
Those high wages were a price signal – marketing for the company. They could pay those wages because they were making billions! Fake billions but BILLIONS!
If you take nothing more away from this post, remember this: all of society, all the rules, all the laws, all the social structures we find ourselves in … they were created by us. We made them and we can unmake them or change them any time we want.