Usury

In the dark past, usury has been considered a social anathema. Christianity forbade the practice of lending for interest until 1545 (Henry VIII was a mess) and even Martin Luther and John Calvin found the practice repellent. Plato, Aristotle, Cato, Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, Thomas Aquinas, Muhammed, Moses, Philo, and the Buddha all were opposed to the practice.

I have a tendency to believe that this is really the root of most of the problems that we are going through now in the United States. All states have usury laws, but in 1980, the Congress, in it's never ending quest to line their own pockets and help the pig-fucking bastards in the banking industry gave the big banks the right to ignore the law. That is why you see N.A. after banks names. It is a federally approved tattoo that says, "we can fuck you as hard as we please".

There is a website that lists each states usury rates, when you read them you will laugh hysterically.

My point is this: At the end of the day, the problems we are facing are the consequences of greed at all levels. Greed of the lumpen to have more than they can afford, greed of the middle class to retire like nobility, greed of the banks, greed of the corporations, greed of the rich.


Gordon Gecko was wrong. Please, lets everyone remember that he was the bad guy.