USURY = INTREST ON BORROWING. Read And Learn.

USURY



What the world financial systems are primarily involved in, is known as Usury, (loaning money at interest), which has been condemned throughout history for moral reasons, legal reasons, and for the detrimental effects this practice has on society.

The major religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have all criticised the practice of Usury. So too have many of the worlds greatest thinkers like Plato, ¹Aristotle, ² Seneca,³ and Plutarch.

Many pages, books in fact, have been written explaining why Usury is bad. The main contention is however that it allows the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor getting poorer. You might not begrudge a person making money for providing a product or service to the community. But Usury allows a person to get richer simply because they are rich. As a result whole countries are now in debt to the banking system.

To give an example of just how destructive Usury can be, imagine a situation where a choice exists between two investment projects. One is for the placing of money into a bank at a 5% return, which the bank then unethically invests in a polluting business, the other choice is for a direct investment into a project beneficial to both people and the environment, say a hydroelectric plant, but with returns of only 3%. Financially the more viable project is the one which is most destructive to us and our environment and whilst profit incentives are vital in encouraging progress, the unregulated practice of Usury is highly damaging and can actual hinder progress, if such a direction is deemed to be less profitable to pursue.

"Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has been poisoned,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
Cree Indian Prophecy

The practice of Usury allows only the rich to benefit by choosing whether or not to invest and what to invest in, simply on the grounds of how much money it will make for them.

To add insult to injury, there exists a potentially even more harmful aspect of Usury, and that is that projects being invested in needn't even be successful in order for the investors to make money on them!

Because financial institutions more often than not demand collateral to be held against loans, as a guarantee should a venture fail, there is no incentive for them to invest in workable projects above pointless ones. People now are borrowing vast amounts against their homes and lenders encourage this, standing to gain either money from repayment or property from repossessing.

The rewards made possible by Usury can encourage all sorts of irresponsible investments, because from the financiers point of view, it appears sensible, being guaranteed to make them a profit, no matter what the result.

When it doesn't make any difference they don't have to care.

If we are talking about a fair way to share the resources in our world, then this is not it.

The rot starts the moment the currency is produced.


1. Plato, Laws, v. 742

2. Aristotle, Politics, I, x,xi

3. Seneca, De beneficiis, VII, x