A few things a person can do:
Educate others about the money/banking system.
Eliminate one's debts (if any) as quick as possible, and for others if possible.
Consider putting your money into a building society (if they have them) rather than a bank. Yes, I know, its only moderately better but still better.
If you do earn interest from a bank account,, give it to charity.
Put a small amount of your savings into physical gold/silver/platinum.
Try not to get caught up in the consumerism lifestyle, live a simple life.
Consider ethical investments, there are plenty of companies now providing these options.
Join groups or campaign for monetary reform, write to your Member of Parliament etc.
Peace bro Wakas.
Thank you for your useful advice above.
Since we are talking about our current system, let me share with you what I think about the element of interest on loans. First of all, I must clarify that I have read both sides of the argument, i.e. the arguments of both the proponents and the opponents of interest on loans. I have spent countless hours and many sleepless nights doing research only on this topic and I am still doing. Considering everything, if you now want me to be BRUTALLY honest regarding this matter, then I would have to say that the presence of 'interest' in our current system DOES have some uses. I am being brutally honest.
Now the question is, how is it useful for us? I have no intention to argue with anyone but to simply put down my own thoughts for you to reflect.
Let us imagine a scenario where there is no bank / financial institution in existence. We have all our savings with us in our homes. Now lets say that a company XYZ wants to expand it's business, and it needs a loan of $50,000. The company came to you, or me and asked for $50,000, and the owner will return the money 7 years later. And he will return exactly $50,000, and not 1 cent more or less. Assuming that we both have $50,000 of savings, will you give him the loan? I personally will not give him because I have no benefit from it. And for 7 years I won't be able to make use of my money. And if I give him, I will also stay in the risk of never getting it back. And my money also didn't fall from the sky but has many years of hard work behind it. I can almost guarantee that almost nobody would want to give him the money without having something in return. Yes, there MAYBE someone who may give who has millions of dollars, but let me tell you, rich people can be stingier than average to poor people. Now imagine there are hundreds of people who needs long-term loans for doing business. In this situation, they won't be getting many people handing out long-term, benefit-free loans to them.
Think of another scenario. Lets say that our government wants to build a huge bridge for people's convenience in travelling between cities, and needs a huge, massive amount of long-term (about 20 years) loan. How many people will give it without asking for anything in return? And this is not the only one, the government has tons of other projects to undertake, for example, building roads, houses, offices etc.
If the government does not have easy access to loans, the country will not develop. And not having easy access to loans means, there will be no businesses / very slow development of businesses. Shortage of businesses means high unemployment, and high unemployment means more illegal activities, more theft and more murders. Think about it. We are over 7 billion in this world and increasing. The whole development of countries and its people's ability to earn and survive is highly connected to 'having easy access to loans'. And I have already explained that without interest or some sort of benefit it will be extremely difficult to have easy access to loans.
Another very important point I must say, and that is, if there was no interest on loans, then that would mean there would be an infinite demand while the supply is limited. Having interest on loans makes borrowing money more expensive, which limits people's demand.
So these are my few thoughts why I think interest on loans have uses. However, I still don't support the current system. I think there could be a better way because I am thinking from 'within the box'. There maybe absolutely a complete different way to achieve all these uses without resorting to interest if we think outside the box, a completely whole new system may possibly be devised. But I am afraid it might be too late now cause the world has moved way too forward with the current system. If anything was to be done, then it should have been done a few centuries earlier. God knows best.
