r/OutlawEconomics

Global debt just crossed $315 trillion, ~3x world GDP, two-thirds of it in the advanced economies. It left me with a question I can't un-ask: if everyone is in debt, who does the world actually owe?

Following it honestly led somewhere uncomfortable:

- Modern money is created as debt (BoE's own 2014 bulletin: ~97% of money is bank lending). The principal is created, the interest isn't, so total debt has to grow faster than the money supply. The recurring crashes look structural, not accidental.

- The Ottoman bankruptcy of 1875 is usually cited as proof Islamic economics fails. But the Ottomans avoided interest-bearing foreign debt for centuries and only collapsed AFTER their first European loan in 1854. The default followed *abandoning* the riba prohibition, not applying it.

- Zakat is the part I find most interesting: a 2.5%/yr levy on idle wealth (not income), which structurally punishes hoarding and pushes capital into production. The opposite of how income tax works.

I'm not claiming any current Muslim-majority country runs this well (most don't, and I get into why). I'm arguing the *principles* hold up, and that the West already uses pieces of them (VC = profit/loss sharing; Islamic banks took zero 2008 bailouts).

Wrote the full argument with sources here if useful Link in first comment below

Genuinely want the strongest counterarguments — where does this break?

here is my full article: https://www.rashadbayram.com/blog/islam-third-economic-system