Public Forum

In spite of the anger and frustration being shown, the demonstrators have not suggested the alternate financial system that needs to be the implemented in place of the old.

One thing is sure: merely changing or improving the current financial system or giving out huge bailout packages will not do. We need a fundamental change at the very basic, core level.

And that change is this: we must replace the basic element off “interest” that runs at the core of evils in the current financial system and results in concentration of wealth in few hands.

The most basic and fundamental change which necessary in the current financial system is to introduce the concept of “profit and loss sharing”. All lending institutions must share the risks of success and failure of the business they are lending to. That is the only way that could lead our managers and institutions to behave in a socially and financially responsible and prudent way. Managers must earn on the basis of profitability and not interest accumulated. That will turn money managers and paper money creators into successful business people overtime.

We must replace the credit card system with the system of "spend only what you have or what you can". Do not spend on credit. This should be true not only for the individuals but for the businesses, institutions, governments and countries. One principle: spend only what you have and what you earn, nothing more.

In addition to this, the taxation system must be changed to a uniform system applicable to all and not favoring the wealthy. And the tax money must be used for projects of public welfare accessible to all.

Unless we are willing to change these fundamentals, we will not be able to come up with a true and viable replacement of the current (and terribly) failing financial system.

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[-] 1 points by riverwoman (37) 13 years ago

"They" are the American people. Do "we the people" have the right to protest our government? Are protesters creating chaos or are they responding to chaos created by a corrupt financial system perpetuated and empowered by the actions of our government? The forefathers of our democracy were labeled an "angry mob" by British rulers of an aristocracy whose tyranny protected the interests of the few at the cost of the many? Symbolically, our "revolutionaries" had enough of unfair taxation and threw tea overboard in protest. Non-violent revolutions throughout human history were the result of citizens, whose government's subjugation of their basic human needs and rights are deprived by injustices forced upon them in order to ensure favored status of wealth and power. What would our country look like if citizens didn't take action against human injustice? Women, persons of color, or religion, and worker safety and wages are but a few examples of citizens who experienced injustices evidenced in our nation's history. Should the people of a nation not hold their government accountable for justice for all? Human nature dictates that humans will revolt against injustice. President John F. Kennedy stated that "If you make peaceful revolution impossible you make violent revolution inevitable.”

So, when elected officials 1) ignore the voice of the people, and 2) castigate those who exercise their American right to express themselves as less-than legitimate citizens than those who agree and support them, and 3) through law and economics deliberately favor one group (1%) at the expense of the majority (99%), I'd say that the tenants of democracy fail. When our government not only does not hold those who break the law (one example: banks and sub-prime loan criminality) accountable, but through policy and practice allow such practices, citizens lose trust in their government's ability to protect its citizenry's against individuals or entities whose practices cause harm.

It's not a "free-market" capitalistic economic system when government, in policy and practice, favors the interests of the 1%. It's like a football game. One team gets all the protective gear while the second team gets to play in their underwear. Who do you think is going to get hurt and who do you think is going to win when the rules of the game apply to one and not to the other?