Showing posts with label negative interest rates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label negative interest rates. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Usury, Aquinas and Baphomet


Usury, taking interest on a loan, used to be considered a sin. Now it's the keystone virtue of our civilization. Here's some Aquinas, from somewhere in the Summa:

Article I.—Is it a sin to take usury for the lending of money?

R. To take usury for the lending of money is in itself unjust, because it is a case of selling what is non-existent; and that is manifestly the setting up of an inequality contrary to justice. In evidence of this we must observe that there are certain things, the use of which is the consumption of the thing; as we consume wine by using it to drink, and we consume wheat by using it for food. Hence in such things the use of the thing ought not to be reckoned apart from the thing itself; but whosoever has the use granted to him, has thereby granted to him the thing; and therefore in such things lending means the transference of ownership. If therefore any vendor wanted to make two separate sales, one of the wine and the other of the use of the wine, he would be selling the same thing twice over, or selling the non-existent: hence clearly he would be committing the sin of injustice. And in like manner he commits injustice, who lends wine or wheat, asking a double recompense to be given him, one a return of an equal commodity, another a price for the use of the commodity, which price of use is called usury. 



Our present economic and financial system is based on usury; every Dollar we grasp in our eager spending hands is issued by the Fed, at interest. The borrower (USGOV) must repay this debt by getting more money, which comes, ultimately, from selling more things.



But there's only so much you can sell in a finite world, and only so much that people want, or need, or are able to buy. Despite the marketeers, infinite usurious growth is unsustainable.



As a last ditch measure, the financial powers are leaning towards negative interest rates and a ban on cash, in a desperate bid to get people to spend more and fuel the debt engine. This will fail and end in a reset, which will not be pretty, to put it mildly.

With that in mind, why do you think local PDs are investing in MRAPS?

Message to market: Prepare for the worst, and be happily surprised if it doesn't come down, Baphomet-Style, on our iniquitous and devilish society. But perhaps it already is? You be the judge.

Your Pal,

LSP

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Meet the New Grill, Same as the Old Grill


I went out and bought a new grill; it's a Weber, just like the old one, except that it has plastic handles and isn't a broken down old wreck.



I fired the shiny new grill up this evening, after church. Did it work? Sure it did, and I reckon Weber Kettles are worth every penny, especially if your idea of cooking is mostly about putting meat on fire.



But here's some food for thought. Do negative interest rates signify an essentially worthless currency? Fiat forever.

Grill on,

LSP