When people brag about how they secured the good retirement through their ingenuity they dsiplay "trust in accumulated worldly treasures"
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
(St. Luke 12:17-20)
No advocate of economic freedom has "contempt for the poor" since poor people in an economically free society can become rich people quite quickly and vice versa.
So you see the poverty or especially persistent poverty as a fault of the poor. This is a form of contempt.
And I have no idea what usury you're talking about.
I see the Freemaketeers defending the usurious practices of credit card companies which charge interests of 30% and more. This defence is based on the contract ("they should have read the small print").
Good grief. Where? I take back what I said about your colleagues that engage in strawman arguments. You are doing it yourself.
Economic freedom as a position has nothing to do with individual braggarts.
I'm certainly not required to be a braggart in order to believe in economic freedom.
So you see the poverty or especially persistent poverty as a fault of the poor. This is a form of contempt.
Seeing poor people as free actors who make choices isn't contemptuous. Seeing them as powerless drones devoid of free will is.
And, of course, in the 1st century Roman province of Palestina there wasn't much economic freedom for non-citizen subjects.
The state imposed strong and crippling excises and taxes on goods, the sale of farming land was subject to numerous restrictions and social standing was essential to economic success.
Today conditions, while not optimal, are much improved.
The Lord condemned the servant who hid the talent for a reason.
the usurious practices of credit card companies which charge interests of 30% and more
It's not usurious if the rate freely offered to the borrower is commensurate with the risk to the lender.
If the lender is intentionally deceiving the borrower about his level of risk, he's being usurious.
But this A. Pole habit of immediately convicting people of serious sins without proof is repulsive.