I remember reading a little book a while ago, a book that talked about universal human truths, principles and a set of guidelines that should be followed by people and the institutions that govern them.
The book pushed hard on things like working hard, very hard and looking out for those around you in the community and generally paying attention to bigger earthly principles like “every action has a reaction”. Wrapped up in this little book and its suggestions were warnings about a particularly pernicious creature…..CREDIT. The book warns that taking advantage of something or using something or building something before you could pay for it with money already earned would only lead to certain disaster. You know the whole good story about compounding interest and how it compounds and grows and grows and grows. Well, the inverse is also true…if you have credit and borrow and borrow and borrow, it eventually all begins to grow and grow and grow…until it consumes you…..
And consume is exactly what the credit bubble is doing…..not just to individual consumers. And not just to our sinking country….to the entire Western world. Greece is getting lots of attention here lately, but Greece is just a symptom of the cancer that is truly international. As goes Greece, so does the rest of Europe….eventually. The debt ratios that have everyone freaking out about Greece are actually lower than some other countries….but whether it’s Greece or Great Britain or all of America, the problem is all the same….too much credit, too many liabilities, not enough output.
We’re all interconnected and we’re all heading for currency crisis and international collapse. And that book I spoke of earlier….a little book called The Bible:
Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Proverbs 28:8
He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
But the point is America is not a credit sucking island sitting alone…..the whole Western world and our “basket of currencies” are a mess, as detailed in the Wall Street Journal…
We are confronting a crisis, all right, but it is not a Greek crisis, unless uncertainty as to the date of that country’s de facto default counts as a crisis.
If the insolvency of that tiny country were the world’s only problem, it would be stretching the word “crisis” to apply it to the travails and insolvency of that tiny country.
What we have come to call the Greek crisis is, first, an international banking crisis. Like Lehman Brothers, Greece is definitely not too big to fail. It is too interconnected to fail, too interconnected to the international banking system, too interconnected to the political ambitions of those who have spent decades replacing the system of nation states with a united Europe.
Capitalism and consumerism are driven by debt. Add the corruption of politics and banking, aided by the courts and corporate lawyers, and financial Armageddon is the outcome.
We live in a very corrupt country. Those who cannot see that blame bloggers others.
I’m not an expert on the bible, but….
Exodus 22: 24-25, “If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.” This prohibition is repeated 22 times in the Old Testament. Proverbs 28:8 says, “He who increases his wealth by interest and overcharge amasses it for someone else who will bestow it on the poor.”
https://www.rmbowman.com/catholic/econom2.htm
Andrew Schmidt of the Briefing writes…
We also must not forget that the ban on charging interest was never an isolated negative stipulation. Rather, the flipside of the ban is a positive duty to help (Lev 25:35-37). Thus, every instance of another person’s need or desire presents me with a choice, either to help or to take advantage. If we have wealth that we do not need, God wants us to use it to help others, like the Lord Jesus, who used his riches for our sakes (2 Cor 8:9).
https://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/6113
and Matters of Interest
https://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/issues/matters_of_interest/
Islamic banking is well-known in the financial world and is becoming popular as an investment alternative even outside the sphere of Islam. The prohibition of usury or charging interest on any lending is described in the literature of every Islamic school of jurisprudence. In justification of the prohibition Ali (1988, 141a) quotes Qur’an 2:275 `Those who swallow interest will not (be able to) stand (in resur rection) except as standeth one whom Satan hath confounded with his touch.’
https://www.al-islam.org/islaminthebible/19.htm
Old Guy –
This is just one of the Islamic aspects I find refreshing. I’ve generally found westerners do not interpret other’s religion accurately, and miss some very, very good points as well.
I guess this is a result of ‘The Backfire Effect’ https://www.sott.net/articles/show/230606-The-Backfire-Effect
I’ve thanked my parents numerous times for not teaching me about religion, instead they allowed me to learn about it on my own, if I wanted. I did explore many religions throughout my life, and I chose to exclude them.
Religion is very dangerous, for everyone, as is debt (which my parents discouraged throughout my life).