2 thoughts on “Dialogue between an Israeli former MK and me”
Well, as a good doctor once said, first do no harm.
By government ukase, we are inflicting deep harm on the economy. We are forcing people not to work and forcing businesses to close.
If we can abide by lockdowns, and it seems to be the consensus, then I see we have little option but to print money and give it to people and hope that mild inflation settles out a lot of resulting issues.
The prospect of forcing labor stoppages and then proposing debt peonage as a solution…well.
Sometimes policy-making is about taking the least-bad option. Ending lockdowns is the least-bad option.
Using “ha-minus” bank account overdrafts as a primary source of consumer credit lines is still a kind of surprisingly – and maybe uniquely – common way of life in Israel, and an arguably slightly pathological one that the government and bank regulators have been trying to ‘normalize’ for some time.
Don’t get me wrong, it definitely makes sense. Why should I need different debit and credit cards? It’s like extending the number line to include negative possibilities, instead of needing a positive system over here, and a negative system over there.
If I’m using the credit card just as an intermediate debit card, for points, because I always pay it off, well, the bank could pay me the same points for just using the debit card. If I actually need credit at high interest rates, then I shouldn’t get it until I’m out of cash, and then, why not just get the same terms, rates, points, and protection from the bank, and be able to use the same single card connected to the same single account?
I don’t think there’s a good answer to that which isn’t paternalistic about vice, that is, that claims that something about the “one card to rule them all” system makes it even easier and more psychologically tempting to get into serious and excessive debt trouble that’s still an expected net gain for the creditor institution on average.
But I’d guess that really it doesn’t make that much difference, and so it’d be great to be able to move to a one-card system, where going into minus on your checking account doesn’t trigger any overdraft fees and just automatically starts accruing interest in the same way as any other credit card debts.
Well, as a good doctor once said, first do no harm.
By government ukase, we are inflicting deep harm on the economy. We are forcing people not to work and forcing businesses to close.
If we can abide by lockdowns, and it seems to be the consensus, then I see we have little option but to print money and give it to people and hope that mild inflation settles out a lot of resulting issues.
The prospect of forcing labor stoppages and then proposing debt peonage as a solution…well.
Sometimes policy-making is about taking the least-bad option. Ending lockdowns is the least-bad option.
Using “ha-minus” bank account overdrafts as a primary source of consumer credit lines is still a kind of surprisingly – and maybe uniquely – common way of life in Israel, and an arguably slightly pathological one that the government and bank regulators have been trying to ‘normalize’ for some time.
Don’t get me wrong, it definitely makes sense. Why should I need different debit and credit cards? It’s like extending the number line to include negative possibilities, instead of needing a positive system over here, and a negative system over there.
If I’m using the credit card just as an intermediate debit card, for points, because I always pay it off, well, the bank could pay me the same points for just using the debit card. If I actually need credit at high interest rates, then I shouldn’t get it until I’m out of cash, and then, why not just get the same terms, rates, points, and protection from the bank, and be able to use the same single card connected to the same single account?
I don’t think there’s a good answer to that which isn’t paternalistic about vice, that is, that claims that something about the “one card to rule them all” system makes it even easier and more psychologically tempting to get into serious and excessive debt trouble that’s still an expected net gain for the creditor institution on average.
But I’d guess that really it doesn’t make that much difference, and so it’d be great to be able to move to a one-card system, where going into minus on your checking account doesn’t trigger any overdraft fees and just automatically starts accruing interest in the same way as any other credit card debts.