State Subsidized Usury and the End of the Republic

Although many things may batter this poor former Republic, I think usury may deliver the fatal blow.    Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who swung through the revolving door from Goldman Sachs now proposes a $300 billion promise to save Fannie Mae stock prices by having the government buy up the stock.  This drops decades of right wing propaganda that markets make wiser decisions than governments right down the toilet, but likely few will notice.  

William Greider advocates solutions in the most recent issue of The Nation.  One is:  "Nationalize Fannie Mae and other government-supported enterprises instead of coddling them. Restore them to their original status as nonprofit federal agencies that provide a valuable service to housing and other markets.  Make the investors eat their losses.  Buy the shares at 2 cents on the dollar.  Without a federal guarantee, these firms are doomed anyway."

Another I like is:  "Re-enact the federal law against usury.... Maybe in the deepening crisis, Washington will begin to grasp that money is also a moral issue."

Money is a moral issue.  Probably the most important.  

Anyone who has ever sat down at a poker table knows that the guy with the biggest bankroll can dominate the game.  That is why tournaments set the amount to buy into the game.  That is why the kitchen table player does not want to accidentally wander into a game where everyone else has a fat bankroll.  The kitchen table player may know the exact odds of drawing to the flush in a given hand and be the most skilled player in the room, but if everyone else has a lot more money, he likely won't last long enough to show he's better.

Every poor guy trying to get a house or a car or groceries until the next check is completely at the mercy of the lender with the big bankroll.  Especially when, as now, that lender can also buy up enough influence to be able to take the poor guys' taxes to replenish his bankroll if the lender makes a mess of things.

Over time, the people with money who will lend it out for interest will eventually get everyone else's money.  Societies must build in a correction.  Moral societies must prohibit lending for interest and have periodic forgiveness of debts.  

On this cycle of government sponsored extortion and usury leading to debt slavery and wage slavery, we have only begun to see how bad things can get.  People have maxed out the credit cards and are upside down on houses and cars.  People have borrowed all there is to borrow on the next pay check.  It will get ugly.