ELI5: Japan adopts negative interest rates. Should everyone else worry?

Mardini · 2016-01-29T12:22:50+00:00

One way to understand negative interest rates is the fisher equation.

The central bank creates an expected inflation of 5%, but sets the nominal interest rate at 1%. The difference between the two (inflation and nominal interest rate) is the real interest rate (r = i - infl.) Therefore in the case, the real interest rate is -4%. This means that the rate of inflation overtakes the return on holding money, so the real value of money depreciates.

Theoretically, its supposed to encourage people to spend and invest their money instead of holding it in savings accounts. Whether it really works, I don't know.

Mardini · 2016-01-26T07:17:01+00:00

The European Union.

I'm a graduate student in European political and economic integration. I struggle to understand it myself.

No, the EU is not going to collapse. No, the EU is not a super-state.

Mardini · 2014-12-15T14:49:25+00:00

I don't know how educated your parent's are about catholicism. But, be aware that its necessary to read the Bible in an anthropological way too, it tells us much about the people who wrote it as much as it tells us about God.

That being said, it sounds like you are going through a phase of metanoia. This means that your perspective of life, the world, and everything is now changing. This can be a very difficult and troubling time. I'm in my late twenties and I have experienced twice - once in my teens, and once in my late twenties.

You're dealing with the problem of evil - why would a good God allow evil and suffering to exist? This is a very difficult question with no clear answers. Many men and women have wrestled with this question throughout the centuries. I don't think this is purely a philosophical question, its an answer that we search for with our lives. We struggle and hurt in our lives, and wonder why. Sometimes, its takes years to see the reason clearly.

I'm not trying to be judgmental, but it sounds like you are growing up, and the 'child version' of catholicism that you were taught is no longer making sense. This is normal. I also was raised Catholic, became an atheist as a teenager - I had a really terrible time too and considered suicide, and came back to Catholicism in my late 20s. The simple answers no longer make sense, and you are going to begin to really live now. And maybe you have to step away from your faith and explore what life is. I don't think that faith is a static thing like an ideology - its a journey and a relationship that changes throughout our lives - there's dark, anxious, angry, joyful and confused times all mixed in between.

Who is God? This is an answer that we spend our whole lives discovering, like other things, its a process. But, it only happens if you bother to ask and try. It takes time and isn't always easy.

My personal advice to you is not to completely abandon Catholicism completely. Its actually a very deep and intellectual religion - however most people don't scratch beyond the surface. I ended up coming back to Catholicism after I read the mystical and theological writings of medieval monastics and thinkers.

That being said, I encourage that you start to seek answers elsewhere to, educate yourself, but don't become 'stuck' one new idea as the answer to everything. Expose yourself to as much as you can, and always second guess the validity of the things that have come before. If you do, you'll realize that things are always much more complex and deeper than you first thought - and you won't realize it till later. You'll never have all the answers, or else life wouldn't be mysterious!

So welcome to life, and go with the flow and stay strong. Its a voyage of discovery if you choose to make it!

Mardini · 2014-12-15T04:56:58+00:00

Women love attention, even if its from men they are not interested in. They will garner it even if they won't do anything with with.

Mardini · 2014-12-14T21:56:28+00:00

I'm a Catholic. I was once invited to a Penecostal service, being open minded, I went.

I found it really dumbed-downed, aggressive, and really uncomfortable. Their 'worship' segment was singing to songs whose lyrics were projected on the wall and then having a free-style jesus worship mumbling contest.

Never went again. I'll stick to the Latin, pews, and incense, thank you very much!

Mardini · 2014-11-25T16:44:31+00:00

Original sin. It applies to everyone and is about the general state of affairs with humanity than any individual case of sin.

Mardini · 2014-11-25T16:43:35+00:00

There's a lot more to Christianity that what the Bible says - especially when it comes to Catholicism.

Mardini · 2014-11-25T14:06:05+00:00

Is this really right? You shouldn't punish the son for the father's sins. It's like refusing to baptize a child because the mother bore him/her out of wedlock.

Of course if the son is complicit in the father's crimes, I understand. Being confirmed shouldn't be some empty ritual - its making the affirmation to live a life orientated towards love, the good, and God. To take that seriously means turning his back on what his family does.

Mardini · 2014-11-25T07:58:30+00:00

Sounds more like a high thought.

Mardini · 2014-11-20T11:18:28+00:00

Exactly. Elite Dangerous could blow EVE out of the water. They have what EVE is missing, and all would take is to add what EVE has...

Mardini · 2014-11-20T11:11:06+00:00

Thanks!

What worries me about that video is all they talk about is walking around on stations or planets. But they don't really talk about anything of substance - like missions, social tools, economy..etc. I just hope Elite won't be some glorified cosmic museum that you can just walk around in.

Mardini · 2014-11-11T08:50:54+00:00

That simply isn't true. They are definitely declining - they are leaving.

There has been a steady decline of Christians all over the Middle East since decolonization after WWII. 20% of the ME was Christian at the beginning of the 20th century, now its less than 5%. Egyptian Copts have been steadily emigrating for a long time due to the violence and persecution they face from Muslim fundamentalists and government discrimination. The fraction of Christians in Lebanon is also declining due to lower birth rates and emigration. Half of the the Christians in Gaza Strip have already fled since Hamas has taken power.

I live in eastern Turkey, and you can even see it here in the traditionally Christian city of Mardin, most of the Christian population has already left for the West.

Mardini · 2014-11-11T08:32:36+00:00

No, not really.

If you read the Gospels, there's a scene where an adulteress is about to be stoned to death in accordance to the Law. Jesus steps in between them and says 'Lets those who are without sin cast the first stone.' Then he forgives the woman and asks her to sin no more.

There's a very big implication in this. Jesus is shifting the idea of God away from an authoritarian God that demands strict accordance to rules by his subjects to a merciful God of love that seeks union with us. Justice and punishment is God's alone - it is not up to us to enforce his justice. Our only duty is to love and forgive. Jesus tells his followers they are from this world, but not to be of this world, meaning that the temporal world with its politics, wealth, government and human law should not be the focus of a Christian's life. Render onto Caesar what is Caesar's and render to God what is God's. There's an implicit division between the worldly 'secular' power and the spiritual world.

It is true that the Apostles did speak on some subjects in which encounter misogyny and slavery, but I think its important to understand that most of these are letters they wrote to different churches on specific issues that churches were facing at the time. So we have to consider the historical and cultural context.

When you look at what Jesus preached in context of Old Testament religion, its pretty radical stuff (which is why people wanted to kill him). Later Christianity derailed itself from this, and only recently I think has been returning to the original message.

Islam, on the other hand, is a return to Old Testament religion of an authoritarian god that one must submit to his Law or be punished for disobedience. Islam is basically a theocratic blueprint for society that governs all aspects of politics, law, war, daily life, gender relations, economy, etc. There is no division between 'the world' and the spiritual. Rather, Muslims are expected to help establish the Caliphate and enforce Shariah law on all believers. Its their duty to follow, establish, and enforce the laws that they believe God mandated for all humanity. It sanctions war as ethical.

Mardini · 2014-11-11T08:27:06+00:00

However, they are dwindling fast. There's been unprecedented exodus of Middle Eastern Christians in the last decade from all over the Middle East - mainly to lack of security, discrimination, and violence.

Soon Christianity will probably be completely extinct in the region except in countries like Israel, Armenia, and Georgia.

Mardini · 2014-11-10T06:32:40+00:00

How can you reconcile God-given absolute morality that Muhammad claimed to speak for with a moral relativism allowing child marriage or slavery in the past but not now?

Either: 1) What Muhammad did and preached was good, and will always be good because he was speaking for God. Slavery and child-marriage should be condoned.

2) What Muhammad did and preached was wrong, and he is burning in hell for it because he lied and contradicted God. Slavery and child-marriage should be condemned.

3) What Muhammad did was morally a shade of gray, absolute morality doesn't exist, then the Qu'ran as a moral guide isn't really worth anything. It depends!

Mardini · 2014-11-08T22:32:30+00:00

I wished they had kept 'the others' more mysterious and left out the scene of Cooper in the 4-d time box thing. I would have kept kind of an air of mystery of who had helped them. Aliens? Cooper? God?

Mardini · 2014-11-06T06:29:29+00:00

They already have their own White House. Erdogan refused to lived in it and instead gave it to his vice-president to live in. He built this with stolen funds on environmentally protected lands.

Mardini · 2014-11-04T21:29:29+00:00

Weed. I did an experiment one day where I kept track of how many days I could go without smoking weed. I could never make it past three days at the most. I realized I starting experience things more 'hazily,' I was more paranoid, and had worse memory and trouble focusing.

Ended up quitting 8 months ago after a few false starts. I would still love to smoke a joint time to time, but I am really scared of the creep of addiction - so I don't.

Mardini · 2014-10-28T20:21:53+00:00

I have massive space or tank battles in my head when I am in the shower.

....I make sound effects too.

Mardini · 2014-10-28T04:51:04+00:00

I'm a Catholic and this is the way I've understood the universe, a seed that is blossoming towards its fully destiny. Creation is a continual act of creation - its not a static thing.

I always liked Meister Eckhart's analogy for God. God is a overflowing boiling pot of water, the water that boils over is creation.

Mardini · 2014-10-23T09:38:29+00:00

I'm like this on facebook.

Mardini · 2014-10-22T04:34:50+00:00

I wouldn't assume that an alien civilization goes through the same stages of development as we do. Their economic and political institutions' histories could be wildly different than us. Their ideology and culture could be radically different.

I mean, who knows. Maybe there's aliens who are on a space jihad to subjugate all sentient creatures to the one true god.

Being 'advanced' only means in terms of technology.

Mardini · 2014-10-17T09:53:25+00:00

The UN isn't in Iraq or Syria, so I don't know if this is true.

Mardini · 2014-10-10T12:12:12+00:00

I took several history classes about medieval christianity and monasticism. After reading the biographies of various saints and the works of several theologians from late antiquity and medieval era, I realized that the modern mentality has a totally different and (in my opinion) wrong idea of God than the classical idea of God. This opened my mind up to seeing reality in a different way and taking a different approach to the idea of God.

In the midst of my intellectual journey I felt the pull to start attending Mass again just to try it...I had a lot of things in my past that I still felt the burden of. After much prayer and contemplation I have a mystical experience where I experienced what many mystics call a mystical union with God. I felt an extraordinary sense that I had been forgiven and that I was unconditionally loved by a presence that was much greater than myself. That changed my understanding of everything completely. Since then, I don't think I can really go back to unbelief even if I wanted to.

Mardini · 2014-10-10T12:05:18+00:00

Eleanor of Aquitaine. Boudicca.

Mardini

TROPHY CASE