08 Mar 08 The Middle East @ work
From American Public Radio:
Camel ride hits a few bumps from Marketplace on Vimeo.
The same type of thing happened to my mom and I in Thailand, though not quite as extreme because we are Thai. Woo American capitalism. You were right Thomas Friedman, the world really is flat! And it is not necessarily a good thing.
Watch until the last shot, it’s golden.
The rest of the series about how money works within Sharia law is intersting.
Here’s the thing, in Sharia law, you can’t make money from the lending of money. Basically you can’t charge interest, which makes things like loans and mortgages difficult for those that follow Sharia.
Now most people know how I feel about religion, but to those that don’t, this basically sets the tone. When your religion dictates your financial decisions, I think you need to rethink your priorities.
However, in this case, it actually forces those that follow Sharia law to make more sound financial decisions and stay out of debt. The reality here is that all financial companies should, morally, emulate what these companies are doing.
Clearly there are ways to get a house, get a student loan or invest in a mutual fund without going into debt or investing in companies that make profit through debt. Perhaps there is something to learn from the Muslim world, even if you disagree with everything else about it.
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