I occasionally watch an American YouTuber married to a Chinese man, living in china, and they can’t afford a car (my observation, she claims they don’t need one). They have recently upgraded to a bigger electric scooter as their family car.

You have a point, but originally interest was both compensation for the lander for offering you the loan, and a way to mitigate risk in case you fail to pay. Without interest, why would anyone lend a random stranger some money? Interest is basically the only things that props up an unsecured loan.

Only if you don’t have insider info.

An American is trying to explain to a Russian what freedom of speech is.

American: I can go out to the street and shout for everyone to hear that my president is an idiot.

Russian: I can also go out to the street and shout for everyone to hear that your president is an idiot.