On Usury

http://www.catholicapologetics.info ^ | 1931 | Hilaire Belloc

[Rusty0604]

If a person wants to lend money without inteest that may not be paid back he could do so out of charity, but the money is his property so it would be his decision.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In our societies, I would say that inflation take the place of the 7 year exemption. After a while, inflation eats away at debt, melts it.

Then you should be in Nirvana in a couple of years, when the currency bubble implodes and we have triple-digit inflation.

PS - The currency bubble has been inflated by the Fed fraudulently pegging interest at 0%. When it implodes there will be large quantities of blood spilled, and millions will starve to death. But thank God we had a biblicly-correct 0% interest rate.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Interest is nothing but the difference in the preference to consume today or to consume sometime in the future.

Interest is what you pay the person you borrow the money from for the risk they are taking that they will never get their money back.

Business loans have nothing to do with consumption. They have to do with a business man coming up with a business plan that generates enough revenue to cover his expenses, service the interest on the loan, and have enough left over to generate a profit for him.

Is it immoral to charge a business interest, when the business would not be able to get started without a loan, even though it would be able to pay the interest and the principle in a couple of years?

[BfloGuy]

Business loans have nothing to do with consumption.

Everything in business has to do with consumption.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I meant that debt in business is not elective. Most debt in personal life is elective, especially credit card debt.

Very few businesses can run without loans.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There are a whole series of rules about this, and although they could be said to be no longer operative if one does not follow the Old Testament, they do suggest it is a problem - a matter for regulation. The Biblical requirement that all debts be cancelled after 7 years is most interesting.

If you don't believe that the New Testament is the operative authority, you're not a Christian. I guess you'd have to be considered Jewish. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

[BlackVeil]

Yes, but in this instance, the New Testament does not actually say that the previous commandments are set aside. In some cases, such as the ban on homosexuality, the Old Testament is often referred to as the operative authority.

I am not stating that the full requirments of the Old Testament laws about interest should be in operation. But I do think there is matter to ponder - this is something pointed out, both in the law and the prophets, as against good morality. The question, of course, is what is usury, what is interest (is it any return on money, or an immoderate return, or a contract which allocates risk only to one party?) etc.

[BlackVeil]

Then you should be in Nirvana in a couple of years, when the currency bubble implodes and we have triple-digit inflation.

Shiver! I am afraid of hyper-inflation. I am afraid even of inflation (which is currently running much higher than the official figures suggest.) For a long time, I have been predicting hyper-inflation, but it does not yet appear, so either I am not much of a pundit, or else it is still pending.

But I do think that inflation has been given this role in the economy, of melting away debt. It is a deliberate strategy, which is not much pointed out.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

But I do think that inflation has been given this role in the economy, of melting away debt.

It's also been melting away the savings of seniors and transferring it to Ubama's crony-criminals.

[Arthur McGowan]

I have a ten-dollar bill.

You may have the ten-dollar bill right now.

Or, you may have it one year from now.

Do you choose to take the $10 now, or in one year?

Is there some additional sum I can offer to give you that will induce you to take the $10 a year from now? E.g., an additional dollar?

This is the one and only reason there is interest.

All the stuff about “productive loans” and “non-productive loans” is irrelevant. So is anything to do with the Reformation, or Catholicism, or the Bible, or gold, or silver, or feudalism, or capitalism, or class struggle, or Jews.

[Arthur McGowan]

All that the story of the goldsmith and the five-percent-per annum loan proves is that the goldsmith was stupid to agree to pay that much interest.

[Arthur McGowan]

There are lots of evil people in Christ’s parables! Catholicism has nothing to do with it!

[Salvation]

“Catholic social ministry begins and ends with Jesus Christ,” he said. “If it doesn’t, it isn’t Catholic.”

Archbishop Chaput

[annalex]

Usury is just another name for interest that sounds evil.

Usury is charging interest on unproductive loans and is evil. Charging interest otherwise is good and often necessary. Read the article and understand why.

[annalex]

wealth that has not really been earned, but it is wealth which is now owed

Exactly.

[annalex]

Yet the man could die, way before the loan was repaid, and the lender would lose his money

From the article:

his life has been insured in a lump payment for the amount of £I,000

If the lender takes risks, -- which is not the example on hand, but surely a possibility, -- perhaps he should not lend the money at all, or lend it and suffer the risk. But he may not ask interest of a man who will not be able to work and increase the wealth. That would be usury.

[annalex]

not allowing for interest ...

You read the article, right? Where did you find "not allowing for interest"?

[annalex]

he makes the claim that Interest is evil.

He does not. Read the article, and I'll be thankful for your opinion then.

[annalex]

code for anti-Semitism.

.. and racism, and homophobia, and fattening school lunches.