Capitalism is failing us all. Could Islamic economics be the answer?

[Crystal-Clear]

no idea

 

[nahtanbob]

Islamic Economic System is a broad topic. The main crux of the argument, here, is the adoption of a currency pegged to gold. Your post above, specifically the portion in bold is the problem that conflicts with the Islamic system, money being created through interest (being printed through thin air).

We tried the gold standard until 1971. it did not work. most of the world was in poverty

 

[LeGenD]

This is not a limit of tax. All sorts of other taxes can be imposed, they just have to be fair. The tax has to come from wealth not income. Like business tax really, business pay tax after expenses, yet the salaries class, we pay taxes before our expenses.

If taxes were fair, certain mandatory expenses like shelter, energy, food, transportation, healthcare and medical costs would be considered per household any any remaining income would be taxed.

People seem to think Islam and Islamic practices are some sort of history lesson - they're not. We don't need to limit ourselves to the past and the methods of the past. The only thing important is the principles.

Do you understand the risk factor in entrepreneurship? About 50% of businesses fail in the first 5 years.

Taxing income makes sense; taxing wealth does not - money does not grow on trees.

 

[I.R.A]

Islamic Economic System will come in due course.

If you leave it at the hands of traditional Molvi sahiban ...... it will never come.

For example let me highlight the apparent discrepancy in this article itself.

Zakat (at a ridiculous rate of 2.5%) is a tax on wealth. Capitalism is wealth accumulation, and Islam is anti wealth accumulation ....... so how can Zakat be on wealth?

 

[Jugger]

Honestly today’s Muslims don’t know how to lead a happy life, the values of living are not followed and is shunned.

The religious minded people are even worse, how can banning everything lead to a good life.
Ban music, ban internet, ban clothes, etc etc..
Declaring everything as haram will not lead to economic prosperity.
It’s high time people introspect their lives, how happy they really are and how happy they are making people around them.

 

[Hamza913]

Honestly today’s Muslims don’t know how to lead a happy life

We literally have the world's highest life satisfaction:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...life-satisfaction-thanks-feeling-oneness.html

The religious minded people are even worse, how can banning everything lead to a good life.
Ban music, ban internet, ban clothes, etc etc..
Declaring everything as haram will not lead to economic prosperity.

Those very same people made your country their b!tch for quite some time, and the scars still exist to this very day (Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India's rapidly growing Muslim population).

I want you to ponder this, and ponder it hard. As per your worldview, when you die, it's game over. Zilch, nothing, nada. You will revert to the same state you were in before you were ever born. It will be eternal nothingness. You will experience no joy, no happiness, nothing. It will be as if you never existed, it's not even blackness since that implies you at least get to see a colour. Your whole existence will literally become meaningless. There's a reason every last one of you who has thought about this has gone completely mad, the only ones who don't either just ignore it or haven't thought about death hard enough. I challenge you to try and think about it, maintain your disbelief, and not p!ss yourself like the others.

 

[Jugger]

We literally have the world's highest life satisfaction:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...life-satisfaction-thanks-feeling-oneness.html



Those very same people made your country their b!tch for quite some time, and the scars still exist to this very day (Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India's rapidly growing Muslim population).

I want you to ponder this, and ponder it hard. As per your worldview, when you die, it's game over. Zilch, nothing, nada. You will revert to the same state you were in before you were ever born. It will be eternal nothingness. You will experience no joy, no happiness, nothing. It will be as if you never existed, it's not even blackness since that implies you at least get to see a colour. Your whole existence will literally become meaningless. There's a reason every last one of you who has thought about this has gone completely mad, the only ones who don't either just ignore it or haven't thought about death hard enough. I challenge you to try and think about it, maintain your disbelief, and not p!ss yourself like the others.

You are ignorant and stupid, you have assumed my religion based on my country flag, which I think is as stupid as the Indian minister who gave the circumcision comment.

Also whatever you have said about afterlife means nothing cos no one with a little intelligence will even discuss such religious topics, things can’t be debated properly because there is no concrete proof, and the buck stops at “my belief”.

As for your comment about Muslims being scars or whatever bull crap. Islam can only enrich and cannot be a scar. Your comment about Islam is demeaning and an insult to the religion. Your current situation is forcing you to be so angry and offensive towards an India. I feel pity for your situation.

 

[Hamza913]

You are ignorant and stupid

Keep trying to cope.

you have assumed my religion based on my country flag

No, I have made a deduction based on your behaviour over the past couple of years, as well as past experience. If you believe in a religion with an afterlife, I will be thoroughly surprised.

there is no concrete proof, and the buck stops at “my belief”.

Not at all, people have reasons to believe what they do. But of course, like the majority of disbelievers, you haven't looked into that. You've already made up your mind. At best, you will have skimmed through Islam (even though it's the world's 2nd largest and fastest growing religion, whose followers are also by far the most loyal to it and the most content with it).

As for your comment about Muslims being scars or whatever bull crap. Islam can only enrich and cannot be a scar. Your comment about Islam is demeaning and an insult to the religion.

I said Muslims, not Islam. And it's a fact. The large presence of Muslims in the region is a direct result of the sheer destruction and brutality Muslims committed against India. And now, you have to put up with all the problems it's causing/caused you (the partition of British India, 5 wars, multiple nuclear stand-offs, constant skirmishes along the LOC, Pakistani-backed insurgents, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Hindu refugees from Pakistan, the permanent change in your culture, the Azaan waking you up every morning no matter how much you want to rest, etc). How does it feel to have to co-exist with people who gloat over what their community did to yours?

I feel pity for your situation.

I see you've ignored my challenge, but that much is to be expected. Since you clearly cannot take your own medicine, I'd suggest that next time you don't try to say Muslims don't know how to lead happy lives.

 

[313ghazi]

Do you understand the risk factor in entrepreneurship? About 50% of businesses fail in the first 5 years.

Taxing income makes sense; taxing wealth does not - money does not grow on trees.

You clearly didn't understand my post.

Taxing income is unfair because it doesn't take into account the persons needs. My suggestion was taxing any money people have left over after thier needs.

The UK has a similar principle in place (tax free allowance) but it is a set figure for everyone. I think this should be variable (within certain ranges). Any income after that can rightfully be considered wealth and then taxed.

 

[Verve]

your views perfectly align with messianic cults who believe in flat earth and haarp at the same time somehow.

i have been here for 2 years and you been planning to ride your white horse to Pakistan.

apka mahal tayyar hai aap jab ajaen pir sahab. zulm karne se faida nahi hoga aap ka anjaam usse bura hoga

Well done! Apnay mufadat ko bachanay Kay liay tumharay jaisey nasli lootayroon nai logo to bhooka nanga kar dia hai pichlay 50 Saal se. CSS kya pass Kar Lia, arrogance ke pahar par char gye. Civil Servant banna sikho! Naukar ho logon Kai, Maalik nai! Aukaat main Raho apni.

 

[El Sidd]

Well done! Apnay mufadat ko bachanay Kay liay tumharay jaisey nasli lootayroon nai logo to bhooka nanga kar dia hai pichlay 50 Saal se. CSS kya pass Kar Lia, arrogance ke pahar par char gye. Civil Servant banna sikho! Naukar ho logon Kai, Maalik nai! Aukaat main Raho apni.

They wont let me in any CSS exam dear. You assume just a little too much.

 

[Verve]

They wont let me in any CSS exam dear. You assume just a little too much.

You sound like you belong to the B group, the most rotten of all.

 

[LeGenD]

You clearly didn't understand my post.

Taxing income is unfair because it doesn't take into account the persons needs. My suggestion was taxing any money people have left over after thier needs.

The UK has a similar principle in place (tax free allowance) but it is a set figure for everyone. I think this should be variable (within certain ranges). Any income after that can rightfully be considered wealth and then taxed.

Living standards + cost-of-living vary from household to household and across regions; some places are more expensive for livelihood than others because infrastructure is not uniform across Pakistan.

Now where will the GOP draw the line for wealth tax? Far from easy to decide because people tend to have 'subjective' judgments when consulted, and bureaucracy doesn't care about public opinion anyways. Bureaucracy, if left to its own devices, might decide to impose wealth tax on even lower middle income households across the country.

So many ideas out there but implementation challenges are vast because people are not on the same page over numerous matters.

GOP should rather FIX the Zakaat system and make sure that this sum is actually invested on the needs of the poor across Pakistan. And GOP should disclose these investments to the public on annual basis.

 

[El Sidd]

You sound like you belong to the B group, the most rotten of all.

I sound pretty much like a normal human being. Just not interested in making one group more evil than the other.

 

[War Thunder]

Capitalism is failing us all. Could Islamic economics be the answer?

last updated: 16/04/2019 - 18:10
By Muhammed Yesilhark

Opinions expressed in View articles are solely those of the authors.


Billionaire Ray Dalio, manager of the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater, recently shocked the world when he announced that "capitalism is failing" and that a "revolution" is coming.

There is no denying that global inequality is at unsustainable levels, and that interest-based economies are no longer fit for purpose (in many countries interest rates are too low to incentivise saving at all).


I believe that Islamic economics, with its 2.5% zakat wealth tax (and much lower taxes in other areas) might give us a clue on how to eliminate the worst social inequality. And with a prohibition of abusive high-interest businesses and the incentivisation away from interest-based savings accounts, it can reinvigorate the global economy. These are not just Islamic economic concepts; these are universalist traditional Abrahamic ethics, and a common sense way for us all to enjoy a truly free market.


"Once we strip away the Arabic terminology, concepts like zakat can return our economies to the common sense-based, transparent and equitable set up that the architects of modern capitalism envisaged".
Muhammed Yesilhark
Philanthropist


Dalio’s statements matter, not only because of how strongly worded they are but also because of how topical they are in today’s news climate. They are significant because of who Dalio is, that is to say probably the most successful hedge fund manager in the world. One of my colleagues commented last week that this was the equivalent of the Pope declaring that Catholicism is failing.

Dalio’s words are perhaps more shocking because they violate one of the most sacred unwritten rules of the global rich: you’re not allowed to criticise capitalism if you have benefited hugely from it. Protest - or even displeasure - with the system is a luxury only the poor can afford. It’s normal to see cleaners, or even Uber drivers, angry at inequality. It is less normal to see the world’s wealthiest publicly stating that the order to which they owe their success is “not providing the American Dream.”

The “no protest for the rich” rule has led billionaires to channel their sense of responsibility, frustration or even guilt into philanthropy. This means that we seldom have the wealthy discuss these issues, let alone the root causes from which these problems arise. Those root causes go deeper than many of us realise and addressing them will mean re-examining not only our economics, but our politics and values.

Most of us want a societal order where there isn’t a huge vacuum between the classes. Unfortunately, this gap keeps widening as “casino capitalism” and high interest consumer products entrench divisions.

To create societies where there is mutual respect and compassion, we need an environment of reconciliation between the elites and the masses. The only way to achieve this is through a wealth tax such as the payment of zakat - one of the pillars of Islam - and an effective tool in addressing our current issues. But first, to reform a failing capitalism, we need to fix two things: taxation and the interest rate system. Taxation is easier (and far less left field) to critique since there is an emerging consensus that the global tax system simply no longer works. Through a combination of tax avoidance schemes, tax havens and even relatively innocent methods like transfer pricing, high net worth individuals and their corporations have very little (if any) tax to pay on their wealth. In the absence of effective wealth taxes, governments have no choice but to enforce taxes that perhaps unfairly target the poor, like sales tax and inheritance tax. The injustice of some of these taxes further normalises tax avoidance and polarises society even more.

Critiquing the interest rate system is more controversial. Most people feel that possessing money has some inherent value that should be recognised in a zero (or almost zero) risk way. But with negative interest rates spreading around in the developed world, interest rates are so low in many countries that they simply do not fulfil their purpose of incentivising consumers to save any longer. In short, as Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid titled his research report last year, we might be witnessing “The Start of the End of Fiat Money.”

Therefore, our current fiat-based monetary system might require a rethink. After all, in the grand scheme of global economic history, it can still be considered an experiment as the vast majority of human history was based on gold and silver-backed sound money. Current proponents of digital currencies (such as so-called Bitcoin maximalists) are proposing a new form of supra-national sound money based on maths - quasi-“digital gold” for the globalised world.

Islamic economics, on the other hand, can give us clues to solve both these issues. Zakat, or Islamic alms, is a simple, transparent annual wealth tax of 2.5%. Let’s only consider tax havens, where estimated wealth of $10 trillion is held around the world. That means if zakat was paid on these funds (perhaps as some kind of amnesty agreement), there would be $25 billion per year flowing into the world’s poorest areas and worthiest causes.

At the same time, other taxes could be reduced or eliminated. In return for the wealth tax, Islamic economics suggests almost zero tax in every other area, including inheritance.

Solving the interest problem will be more gradual and will require a rethink of the monetary system we currently live in, as I previously mentioned. I can’t see a sudden global ban on interest but governments (particularly those with low interest rates) could incentivise other forms of investment, increasing regulation around abusive high interest products and businesses to start with.

Some of these might seem very drastic but once we strip away the Arabic terminology, concepts like zakat can return our economies to the common sense-based, transparent and equitable set up that the architects of modern capitalism envisaged.

When the richest guy in the room is telling you the game is rigged, it’s time to change the rules.
Muhammed Yesilhark is a philanthropist, a trustee of the UK National Zakat Foundation and founder of the Q2Q Foundation

https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/16...Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1555431381

@Mangus Ortus Novem @Verve @Pan-Islamic-Pakistan

There is no "Could"

It is the answer, but its too much for the liberated minds of ignorant folk these days.