Planet Fitness, Fractional Reserve Banking, Silver (next few weeks)

Crazy Pills by Kuang Wei Huang

Episode notes

There are many business models built on people not utilizing the service or taking risks with people's assets that they think are being kept safe.

- Planet Fitness doesn't want its members to utilize the gym. If 40% of Planet Fitness's members started using the gym regularly, the gym wouldn't be able to support the volume and the business model would fall apart.

- Banks don't actually keep your money safe for you. Even the biggest banks are only required to keep 10% of the total deposits available as reserves. They are loaning out the other 90% or more (multiple times (called fractional reserve banking)) to make money off of fees and interest rates. If all of a sudden people wanted to withdraw 20% of the money supposedly available that's called a "bank run" and the bank would be insolvent (unable to repay its depositors).

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