I remember reading about banks of earlier, pre-stagflation days, when deposit accounts paid 4% interest and bank credit cards charged 8% interest.

To me that seemed fair.

The challenge I have with zero interest, is that nobody would loan money anymore. Because there is risk of the borrower defaulting, and no reward.

An economy without debt would drastically slow everything down. Because a lot of what happens, say a newly married couple buying a house or a newly drivers licensed teenager getting that first job and buying a car requires debt. A 17-year old who lives out in the sticks is not going to be able to work for 5-10 years to save up enough money to buy a car.

Companies would lay off workers, because there will be no more short-term debt to cover cash flow (I had a business line of credit when I had my first business, and I used it quite often to cover expenses until my clients paid me 2 weeks to 2 months later).

I do agree that money should be backed by hard assets - gold seemed to work. Printing money is evil, and ultimately harms regular people - the well-connected know how to get a piece of all that is printed, while the rest of us don't.

I'd also like to see house mortgage prices go back to about 3x annual salary. Which is one reason why I haven't bought a house. But with individuals and companies over-leveraging themselves, I don't see this happening until there is a painful and sustained de-leveraging process (unlike what happened in 2009).