The 3 Pipe Problem

I face a conundrum. The simple problems I have addressed so far in this blog are nothing more than diversionary explorations.  Payment system architecture fascinates me because humans deploy payment architecture without too much thought, like deploying an ironing board and a badly wrinkled shirt. The shirt winds up without too many wrinkles but the electric bill, storage of the board and the iron plus payment for the storage space are not worth looking a bit less wrinkled, The pig looks better with lipstick goes only so far.

Enough philosophy, you dear reader(s) did not pay good money to read about laundry problems. Sloppy payment system architecture causes increased costs for everyone that uses it. Some of those costs can knock out small companies, or cripple a nation’s economy, or cause wars.

If we look at the horrible conflicts causing untold misery and ask why people fight for a scrap of sand, a single answer presents itself, because they have nothing else to do. Why is there no money to employ people willing to work?  Do these wars exist because the payment services industry charges too much and gives too little? Maybe. One thing is certain, the payment systems in the current war zones are not functional.

I am only posting these blogs on my "followers" section in  Linkedin. I am wrestling with a 3 pipe problem; is it possible to construct a payment system that serves everyone equally well. I will continue to write on the topic, but with less broadcasting.  

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