(I Read) The Crash by Robert Peston
This is the first time I’ve read any book covering the 2007/2008 financial crisis. It’s a dramatisation of England’s banking collapses, triggered by the collapse of Northern Rock which is named NewGate in the story.
It beggars belief how loans can be moulded into a financial product and be bought by investors to make yields off of it. Collateralised debt obligation (CDO) is 1 such example, it’s 1 of the main financial products responsible for the financial crisis. A CDO can contain various kinds of debt, it appears. I’m curious if there is an equivalent in islamic banking.
One key takeaway from reading such a book: if conventional banking is fundamentally broken, doesn’t this mean islamic banking – which is built within the riba-based system – is also fundamentally broken?
The sad reality is, we don’t take into consideration the ripple effects on society, especially folks like myself who want to live debt-free.
Property prices are outrageous because of artificial demand generated by loans and by property investors, and the continuous credit creation. A double-storey bungalow house in Bertam can cost over a million ringgit but the amenities are far inferior to the likes of Cyberjaya and even Bandar Baru Bangi.
Nevertheless, we can’t put the blame completely on the muftis because they aren’t polymaths but it’s critical that they gather feedback from anyone bringing their arguments to a topic, not just from professionals of a ruling body or an established institution. Malaysian muftis are missing out by having social media teams to run their accounts – the team will pick what conversations the mufti should enter. I can see folks in Twitter eloquently and respectfully voicing out their concerns on various topics yet there’s a lack of engagement.
Shouldn’t it be the right of the society to be able to have a conversation with the mufti? We’re living in the digital age, it’s never been easier to initiate a conversation with anyone.
I’ll be paying Kino a visit next weekend, it’ll be intriguing to see what books on money are available.
On to the next one AI x