> There's a reason many ancient religions forbid loaning money at interest entirely; and it's the same reason we have bankruptcy laws.

I don't think the case has been made for this, unless the reason is "things started that way and developed from there", with "that way" and "there" referring to two different things in the two different examples.

Brotherhood of Kings has an interesting discussion of an ancient Mesopotamian moneylender, whose documents are preserved today. He became very rich by making loans without charging interest.

It worked because if you defaulted on a loan, the moneylender took title to everything you owned. This could be worth more than the value of the loan. (Indeed, for moneylending to be profitable on these terms, you must be able to recover more than the value of the loan.)

So the system at the time didn't charge interest, but it would have completely fallen apart if it had also allowed for bankruptcy.