Necessary compromise

The anticoiners at Reddit discuss whether bitcoin is halal or haram.

Some of the commenters get the important point. The basic rules of Islam solidly forbid all forms of speculation and usury. BUT modern Muslims engage in banking with interest, and engage in speculation, just like modern Jews and Christians.

All three abrahamic branches agree with NATURE in their original rules. Getting rich without working for it is bad. This is how Nature wants it. Every living thing creates value just by living, and the more complex living things create value in more complex ways, but always by WORKING for it. Every cell has to make proteins and order and energy from raw disordered chemicals, and every complex life form makes nests or houses or books or automobiles.

BUT all three abrahamic branches have corrupted Natural Law by collaborating with evil rulers, and all violate their rules when they collaborate.

Islam’s absolute prohibition of all interest goes a step too far. In pre-ZIRP banks, interest forms a highly useful feedback loop, which is another sign of LIFE.

Pre-ZIRP banks do a beautiful job of encouraging value creation and discouraging speculation, as Nature wants. When you can STORE the results of your work in a bank and get a small reward, you’re far more likely to STORE your results, making it possible for you to survive bad years and accumulate a surplus for the next generation. When you BORROW from a bank and pay a noticeable penalty, you’re far less likely to BORROW for stupid purposes like betting or stock trading.

We can see the results of this experiment in action RIGHT FUCKING NOW. After the end of ZIRP, businesses and people are saving more, and a huge number of stupid speculations like bitcoin and VR and Wokedom have crashed and burned.

When any traditional vice is absolutely prohibited, smuggling takes over and gangs dominate. True of alcohol and tobacco, true of traditional bank interest. When bank interest is strictly prohibited, the workarounds inevitably invite the worst sort of smuggling and gangsterism. Saudi banks pretend to follow sharia, but actually engage in all the nasty stuff like bitcoin and DEI.

The Soviet version of natural law was a better compromise. Soviet retail banks paid interest on SMALL savings and charged interest on SMALL loans. The state took care of LARGE investments, and paid its own expenses by taxing the REAL VALUE CREATION. Best of all worlds.