Hello Jens, I would advocate the oblishing of interest as a law, but fear that gov would never do anything like that because they line their pockets from the interest and inflation spiral.
Hence, offering an alternative to the market is the way to go. As banks loose business to the alternative provider they will start to adopt and slowly interest becomes the exemption rather than the norm. In Malaysia more and more commercial banks are establishing 'Islamic Financial Instuments' since the government passed the Islamic Banking act in the early 80s and created the legal frame work for Islamic Banking as an alternative. The new, Islamic banks went from strength to strength and once people realized that you don't have to be a devout Muslim, or indeed a Muslim at all to use the alternative many switched banks, prompting the traditional institutes to compete. Currently both systems coexist in Malaysia. Of course, the banking system itself is not as sophisticated as the American or European ones and being in debt is not considered a good thing among the rural folk, which are about half of the population. It is therefore likely that introducing 'fair' banking alternatives to the market in the US or Europe would take much longer to catch on and traditional banks would fight with hands and teeth to make it impossible. In fact, an attempt to introduce fair banking on a large scale in the US is likely to result in class actions from banks for unfair competition or somesuch. By calling it 'Islamic Banking' it can be masked as a religious practice and hence the establishment can't do much against it. However, non-Muslims would then shun the new ventures because of the name. This brings us back to gov policies... It will take time, for sure. But it is already happening. Cheers, Robert. budget & privacy website hosting http://www.cyberica.net e-commerce & e-business services http://www.cyfrocash.net budget domain registrations http://www.u2planet.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
