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
There are a number of things that the nation needs to do in order to repair itself. I don't see us taking any steps to do that, but then again, this is the ObamaNation.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, soon we'll all be taxed for using the weather and everything will be just fine.
ReplyDeleteAquinas makes very good sense. We've abandoned that for cents. As you said a couple posts ago, there's no serving God and Mammon...
ReplyDeleteI do not want to derail the subject of Usury, however the issuance of Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) is important to get correct.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal Reserve Back creates ALL Dollars in circulation, and the individual banks assist in creating digital Dollars through fraction reserve banking. 100% of all Dollars created, whether printed by the Department of Treasury, or created digitally by banks, are interest bearing documents (hence the name Federal Reserve Note), which must be repaid only with more Federal Reserve Notes. This is a very important distinction.
Because of the Federal Reserve Act, ALL Dollars (FRNs) are perpetual debts without the ability to pay back in full, since all interest on the Dollars borrowed can only be paid with more Dollars, each bearing interest payments. More plainly, not only are the Dollars debt, but the interest payments are also debt.
ANYONE (especially politicians) who claim they will reduce the debt, are either lying, ignorant, or both, as the Dollar based debt can NEVER, EVER, EVER, be repaid. It can only be defaulted upon. But since the bankers who control the Federal Reserve Bank are in control of most western governments, including the US, this nation will only become more indebted until The People revolt and ensure the Dollar debt is defaulted upon. But until more people realize how Dollars are created and used, and that 100% of all Sixteenth Amendment Income Taxes are used only for interest payments (not SS, Medicare, Defense, etc.) towards Dollar debt to the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank, little will change.
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Negative interest rates, and banning cash has multiple outcomes. Poor people will simply spend and not save. The bankers and the governments they control will know, to a penny, how every person spends their money. With that, they can use the media propaganda, as well as the puppet representatives to "make laws" to direct the spending habits of those who cannot, or will not, think for themselves.
Those more wealthy people who simply cannot spend all of their money will endure further taxation, via negative interest rates, upon their money. It is a win, win for the banks and governments - TOTAL AND COMPLETE CONTROL OF THE POPULACE.
The MRAPs are for a show of force, to let everyone know who is in charge. It is no longer a government "for the people, by the people," but a government by the banks, for the banks.
Fortunately, God gave us a guide to live our lives by, government or not, banks or barter:
The Bible. Especially those produced before 1611AD, which contain the Book of Maccabees, which details a protracted fight against a tyrannical government....
Hmmm, I wonder why King James would remove biblical history from "his" version of the Bible?
Thanks for the clarification, Owl. And it's entirely on topic -- our currency, in and of itself, is usurious and is, as you imply, unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteI think your comment's worthy of a post, in and of itself.
Well said.
Cents for sense. Nice one, Jenny.
ReplyDelete"Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
ReplyDeleteFor loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!"
-Shakespeare, Lord Polonius, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act 1, Scene 3
Wisdom, Pewster.
ReplyDelete