Robert A. Heinlein: Commercial Financing Commodity
on Tuesday, December 5, 2017Robert A. Heinlein Money Quote saying banks could finance commercial loans by charging reasonable fees, but instead commoditize cash based on scarcity. Robert A. Heinlein said:
“Commercial financing could be done for a service charge plus an insurance fee amounting to much less that the rates of interest charged by banks, whose rates were based on supply and demand, treating money as a commodity rather than as a sovereign state’s means of exchange” — Robert A. Heinlein
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In this quote, Robert A. Heinlein seems to be commenting on alternative models for commercial financing compared to traditional bank lending. He suggests that financing could be provided through a service charge and insurance fee, which together would amount to less than the interest rates charged by banks.
Heinlein portrays how bank rates are influenced more by market forces treating money as a commodity, rather than recognizing the sovereign role of a state in establishing its currency.
Overall, the quote appears to be arguing that more efficient, lower-cost options for business financing could exist if rates were detached from speculative influences and instead focused on the intended purpose of money as a medium of exchange established by governments.
Heinlein may have been proposing some form of public or cooperative financing system as an improvement over the bank-dominated models of his time.
Birthday: July 7, 1907 – Death: May 8, 1988