ISLAMIC BANKING RECONSTRUCTED

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

 Islamic banking is part of the totality of ‘best practices’ that originated from Asia. Being among the strong proponents of the ‘Asian way’ as the way out of our capitalist economic malaise and crises of our times, I’d share my own notes of hallelujah to Islamic banking.

I am among those development practitioners and social scientists who propose that let’s all undertake a review of Islamic banking. This banking practice is based on zero-interest banking. The challenge is for us to reconstruct the practice to suit the current context of  information society. 

Usury is among the proscriptions of spiritual masters and sages of the East. It is within the context of a non-usurious finance, embedded in spiritually-guided livelihood practices, that Islamic banking emerged in Western Asia. 

Zero-interest financing contributed immensely to accumulating wealth for the Asiatic polities that engaged in them in antiquity. The same wealth was utilized for social services, ambitious projects, building cities, and advancing the arts, sciences, and philosophy. 

Usury is alien to Asia, even as its massive introduction to the continent brought untold miseries to the marginal folks. It had also tied up Asian economies in debt peonage to the financial cartels of the West and their local banking/financial partners. 

Before the Asian economies, notably the emerging markets, will go down the drain and lose their growth gains due to usury and predatory finance, their own stakeholders should rethink their borrowed paradigms. They better review those golden Asiatic economic principles taught by spiritual masters, and make ways to re-carve their financial systems following such principles. 

Asia is indubitably the driver of the global economy today. It is time for Asia to set the trends by beginning with new financial paradigm such as the one offered by Islamic banking. 

[Philippines, 07 June 2010] 

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

UNLADTAU: https://unladtau.wordpress.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com,

ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

BAILING OUT AILING BANKS IS IMMORAL/CRIMINAL

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good afternoon, fellows!

Bailing out ailing banks with people’s money (taxes) is immoral and criminal. I have already stated this contention in previous articles, and I’d re-echo it again in light of the financial fiasco going on in Europe right now.

We’ve had more than enough bad experiences in past crises that point out to massive speculative engagements by banks that have contributed to economic downturns and crash. Japan started the ball rolling by salving big banks with taxpayers’ money in the 1990s, and this practice is awefully wrong and immoral.

Fast forward to the year 2007, when we saw big banks implode as the bubble economy of the USA burst. The same ‘Japanese solution’ at salving ailing banks with taxpayers’ money was again repeated, this time in the USA.

Taxpayers’ money is hard earned revenue for the state for purposes of advancing the general welfare. The priorities for revenues should be infrastructures, social services, pump priming, and ensuring ‘safety nets’ for the marginal classes and groups against the impacts of financial volatilities on the productive sectors.

The solution to ailing banks lies in strengthening regulatory mechanisms. The first agenda on the line is to ban banks from engaging in speculative engagements notably those hedge funds operations. Another agenda is to institute good corporate governance and instilling public accountability by the banking sector.

Bailing out ailing banks in Europe, through taxpayers’ money, can only mitigate the systemic crisis for a while. Also, it will push more folks down grinding poverty due to austerity measures. It is part of the ‘rule of madness’ that now governs ‘late’ capitalism as a whole.

[Philippines, 07 June 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

UNLADTAU: https://unladtau.wordpress.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]