signal comments on Rationality Quotes Thread November 2015 - Less Wrong
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Comments (143)
A poor person comes to the bank and wants a loan. The bank judges them a high risk, and either declines to offer the loan or offers it at a high rate of interest.
No way of drawing up loan contracts differently can affect that basic relationship between the risk of a loan and its cost.
Banks are not charities. They provide a service in return for a profit. As with any business, they must make a profit on whatever service they provide, at least on average, or they will cease providing that service. Even if the bank were set up as a non-profit organisation for the good of its customers rather than its shareholders, it still has to have a business model that breaks even. Selling £10 for £5 is not a business model. Laws and regulations that make a business sell £10 for £5 result in the business ceasing, or changing its form to avoid the laws.
ETA:
I think the causality works the other way round. You can't make up social rules and say "wouldn't it be nice if people behaved like this?" That's not to say that what we have at present is the only possibility, but one has to think about how an alternative would actually work, and not merely imagine happy faces.
A poor person comes to LW and wants to post a laborious article. LW judges them a high risk, and either declines to post the article or offers it at a high rate of 2 Karma points. PS: Sorry to misuse your comment; it was the most recent one. ;)