4 ms·

In most countries, retail bank balances are insured by the government up to a pretty high threshhold[0], so `trust(bank)`, `trust(banking system)` and `trust(go

In most countries, retail bank balances are insured by the government up to a pretty high threshhold[0], so `trust(bank)`, `trust(banking system)` and `trust(government)` should all be on a par, which should be vastly different from `trust(loyalty points)`/`trust(private company)` in ways that are very much obscured by your simple chain of "<"s. [0] to the point where, if your savings exceed it, you should have the ability to make some contingency plans yourself (like using multiple banks to spread risk and increase you total insured threshhold), or be able to hire someone to advise you on such things.

mbork_pl 3y ago
Good point. Fun fact: many years ago, when I studied banking, I had a class on these "deposit insurance systems". After one of the lectures I came up to the lecturer and pointed out a weak point in the system, where a very small group of people (say, a dozen) with enough money could pretty easily destabilize the whole country-wide system. His reaction was priceless. "You're right! I never thought about it! I have to bring it up during the next meeting of the council of [the banking regulatory body in my country]!" (He was a member of that body.) After a while of chatting I told him that I also study mathematics. This led to the strangest compliment I've ever heard: "You know, many of those famous fraudsters were mathematicians!" ;-)