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> Are you saying we should prohibit American Samoans from putting their money in the international bank and getting higher returns, effectively forcing locals t
by Lionsion 8y ago
> Are you saying we should prohibit American Samoans from putting their money in the international bank and getting higher returns, effectively forcing locals to lend to other locals?
If it improves the local economic conditions by keeping money flowing in the local economy, then such a ban seems like a reasonable trade-off for the common good.
Being a greedy individualist, by focusing on chasing after marginally higher savings account interests rates, is likely going to be self-defeating in this case. Your dozens of dollars in extra interest payments are unlikely to compensate you for the other economic hardships you'll encounter because there's no local bank that will bother to make loans to your community.
- SamReidHughes 8y agoIt worsens local economic conditions by directing local resources to unprofitable forms of work.
- mannykannot 8y agoI doubt the consequences are worse than those of not having a functional banking system.
- frgtpsswrdlame 8y agoBut it doesn't direct local resource to unprofitable forms of work, it directs local resources to less profitable local forms of work rather than more profitable foreign forms of work. That seems like a perfectly reasonable trade-off for a community to make.
- Lionsion 8y ago> It worsens local economic conditions by directing local resources to unprofitable forms of work. That has to be one of the most myopic and heartless things I've read all week. You're not going to improve local economic conditions in American Samoa by sucking all the money out their economy, so it can be used to chase profit elsewhere, while its people sit around idle because you've judged whatever work they can do as "unprofitable." I advise you to put down whatever hyper-libertarian economic polemic you got your idea from and read something more humanistic.
- SamReidHughes 8y agoYou're treating the economy like a perpetual motion machine.
- Lionsion 8y agoYou're just dropping slogans. Please reply substantially on why you seem to think communities like American Samoa would be better off if its people couldn't get bank loans.
- SamReidHughes 8y agoI'd think it's obvious that they can't invest their money profitably if you don't let them do that.
- Lionsion 8y ago>> lease reply substantially on why you seem to think communities like American Samoa would be better off if its people couldn't get bank loans. > I'd think it's obvious that they can't invest their money profitably if you don't let them do that. I don't think you're really wrapping your head around the situation. No one's saying they "can't invest their money profitably." What's being said is that it's better for their community if their community's money is deposited in a local bank that makes loans to the community, rather than an international bank that won't (and perhaps pay slightly more in interest). If you're having trouble wrapping your head around terms like "better for their community," you may have an easier time if you roughly translate it to "more profitable for their community."
- SamReidHughes 8y agoYou're confusing putting money in motion with actual production. If people don't invest locally, wages will fall until they've fallen enough that it's profitable to invest locally. There's no scenario in which investment dries up. Now, in order for economic health, the investments made have to be put towards doing useful things. Ideally, very useful things. (Edit: Notably, you can't invest locally if you don't have any profits to invest.)
- empath75 8y agoYou should probably google ‘comparative advantage’
- eecc 8y agoNope, not necessarily unprofitable. Sometimes it’s enouh to be _less profitable_ to be taken offline.