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Honestly as much as I criticize our current banking system it's fractional reserve banking and the ability to get loans that drove much of the technological progress we see today.
Tech progress has never been reliant on getting loans from the bank. It is however reliant on a strong socio-economic structure that embraces change.
Honestly as much as I criticize our current banking system it's fractional reserve banking and the ability to get loans that drove much of the technological progress we see today. Banning any form of usury kept us in the dark ages for a long time.. religious superstition and people in power not allowing the advance of science kept us in the dark ages for a long time.. we might have had electricity 1000-1500 years ago if things played out a bit differently.
Most big advances today are done either by companies sitting on tons of cash or startups with the ability to get loans and funding. None of this was possible 2000 years ago or even 500 years ago to the extent it is now.
Now that is a great point. I had a friend who was born in Vietnam and became a US citizen. He was pretty well traveled around the Far East. I asked him why it was that Asians from various countries come to the US and do so well, yet many of their home countries remain impoverished. His reply was that there was not the banking infrastructure in, for example Vietnam as in the US. He said that people could come here, start a business, work hard to make it successful, and from there--full takeoff.
I asked him why it was that Asians from various countries come to the US and do so well, yet many of their home countries remain impoverished.
Corruption, weak government, religious disincentives, and lack of fair and stable institutions are the main reasons countries remain poor. If banking was it, that would be an easy fix.
The Vietnamese in the US that I know got loans from family to start businesses, not banks.
Tech progress has never been reliant on getting loans from the bank. It is however reliant on a strong socio-economic structure that embraces change.
You might have a point, when you consider Microsoft and Apple were started in people's garages and facebook and amazon started out as small websites with little revenues.. still it's much easier to have a line of credit to be able to conduct research, trials, build the necessary equipment, etc.
Plus the ability for established businesses to get loans, other businesses and individuals easy ability to buy their products, etc... society just runs smoother with a liquid form or credit/currency than it does bartering pieces of metal with no usury. The stock market has allowed an incredible amount of advancement because the ability to get funding allows things to get done much quicker than they otherwise would have. Companies can grow that much faster.. innovation can happen that much quicker.
I use to be one of them gold bug conspiracy nuts who thought the credit system was a house of cards ready to collapse but have changed my views on it. It's not perfect but it's still better than any monetary system in the history of the planet.
America adopted governance by law. The Constitution was the first set of laws. Laws are a better control than politicians, be they Kings or Comrades. You can invest with a longer term horizon in an area that is governed by law.
The 15th century saw the rapid rise of the Ottoman Empire, and Europe was just beginning to wake up and question its metaphysics traditions. The continent would soon be split in multiple ways. Religion used to be a taxing giant across the Continent, and its influence was cut down with the rise of Protestants and allowed the Counter-Reformation. In the meantime, Kings became more absolute, and the written word was spreading via the printing press, the royalty and merchant classes began to depend upon one another and the race for raw materials began as the new world opened up.
As the merchants became powerful, and became more influential, the zeal for profit, whether, spices, sugar, rum, furs or silks became paramount. Kings, increasingly outdoing one another in the building of fancy palaces and cities were desperate for a return on money. Essentially, a great arms/culture race was occurring that drove a motivation beyond traditional aims of marrying well and securing peace and protections.
Anyway, it gave a technological advantage in the areas of war, war occurred throughout the globe. Europe and the West thrived, while the rest were held down to advances in their traditional input areas.
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