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Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

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713 points freedomben | 3 comments | 18 Jul 25 15:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.033s | source
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egypturnash ◴[18 Jul 25 23:34 UTC] No.44611013[source]▶
Okay so is Steam enough of a money printer for Valve to say "well fuck you guys, we'll make our own credit card with hookers and bingo"? And hold out Half-Life 3 (only purchasable with the ValveCard) as a carrot?
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petermcneeley ◴[18 Jul 25 23:45 UTC] No.44611101[source]▶
I mean a bank is literally a money printer.
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elcritch ◴[19 Jul 25 00:08 UTC] No.44611254[source]▶
On a serious side note, only certain banks get to print money.
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HPsquared ◴[19 Jul 25 00:18 UTC] No.44611311[source]▶
They don't physically print the notes, but they do magically add money to a person's account when they take a loan. That kind of thing is where most "money" (in banks, anyway) comes from.

It's just like matter and antimatter being created at the same time, money and anti-money (debt) are created at the same time and when they meet, they cancel each other out.

So borrowing literally creates money (and debt), and repaying debts literally deletes money (and debt).

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mulmen ◴[19 Jul 25 00:42 UTC] No.44611465[source]▶
How does interest fit in here? Isn’t that what creates money AKA inflation?
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1. mitthrowaway2 ◴[19 Jul 25 05:37 UTC] No.44612860[source]▶
No, interest is a typical zero-sum transaction where the borrower spends and the lender earns. The loan itself represents a temporary net increase in the money supply, appearing from nothing and then vanishing when it is paid back.
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2. HPsquared ◴[19 Jul 25 15:08 UTC] No.44616123[source]▶
I'm a bit unsure what happens when a borrower defaults on their loan. The money that was borrowed remains out in circulation, but what happens to the debt (anti-money)?

Does the bank itself use its own money to pay off the debt (deleting some of their own money), or do they simply delete the debt?

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3. kaibee ◴[19 Jul 25 15:51 UTC] No.44616523[source]▶
I'm commiting the faux paus of providing a chat-gpt answer, but I've worked in fintech (annuities though) and I can confirm that this answer is broadly correct. https://chatgpt.com/share/687bbde1-4ba8-800c-92e5-93edd49b01...

In principle, it is 'the bank uses its own money to pay off the debt', as long as you accept that the bank's own 'credit worthiness reputation' and other assets count as 'money'. The hit is _ultimately_ taken by the capital shareholders in the bank, which is the important part.