Thank you. Most people don't know about interest free lending and think it "normal" to pay for the privilege of using other's money. The concept that is known to have been applied in ancient Babylon could be reintroduced. (Good theme for another article.) Total loan cancellation once every ten years or so.
I think that this evil of charging interest is like an aggregative method of destruction to what ever society permits it. Much like a single snowflake piled atop billions of others clinging to a precarious slope, eventually leads to an avalanche of destruction.
Problem is for those in need of capital, the potential to find a collaborative lender rather than a usurious one, are essentially nil. And therein lies the opportunity for virtuous capital managers, be they managing their own capital or on behalf of others.
History has shown just how productive and peaceful a society can be in this regard, where capital goes where it is needed and with righteous covenants in the agreements that benefit the society as a whole. The alternative to that positive and societally beneficial scenario, needs to speculation as the rapacious evil of that usurious system is what we live under every waking moment of our lives.
I always try to pull things into the simplest view of a problem to find the root solution. In the case of a productive and peaceful society in which capital is a fundamental component of individual and group interaction, a simple biblical rule applies. -"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"-
Second, is the requirement of virtue for any society to properly function vs falling apart and imploding. There may be a specific biblical reference, I don't know, however in human interaction, virtue can be distilled into a sentence, -"Always do the right thing, even when no one is watching"-.
I thoroughly enjoy your writings and hope one day to meet you in person when I am back in Russia. I miss living in Russia very much and look forward to this time when life and work no longer impede my ability to 'come home' as it were.
PS; I am in the investment banking business and have contemplated setting up such funding mechanisms for entrepreneurs in Russia and other CIS countries, where lending and investment is done in a more collaborative approach rather than this toxic usurious method. I think a more positive and collaborative approach like this may find a very receptive and productive audience.
Thank you. Most people don't know about interest free lending and think it "normal" to pay for the privilege of using other's money. The concept that is known to have been applied in ancient Babylon could be reintroduced. (Good theme for another article.) Total loan cancellation once every ten years or so.
Yes; concur. Excellent article; thanks for sharing this. Do Russian Banks charge interest on loans to individuals. . . or corporations?
Thank you for writing this post Fr. Joseph.
I think that this evil of charging interest is like an aggregative method of destruction to what ever society permits it. Much like a single snowflake piled atop billions of others clinging to a precarious slope, eventually leads to an avalanche of destruction.
Problem is for those in need of capital, the potential to find a collaborative lender rather than a usurious one, are essentially nil. And therein lies the opportunity for virtuous capital managers, be they managing their own capital or on behalf of others.
History has shown just how productive and peaceful a society can be in this regard, where capital goes where it is needed and with righteous covenants in the agreements that benefit the society as a whole. The alternative to that positive and societally beneficial scenario, needs to speculation as the rapacious evil of that usurious system is what we live under every waking moment of our lives.
I always try to pull things into the simplest view of a problem to find the root solution. In the case of a productive and peaceful society in which capital is a fundamental component of individual and group interaction, a simple biblical rule applies. -"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"-
Second, is the requirement of virtue for any society to properly function vs falling apart and imploding. There may be a specific biblical reference, I don't know, however in human interaction, virtue can be distilled into a sentence, -"Always do the right thing, even when no one is watching"-.
I thoroughly enjoy your writings and hope one day to meet you in person when I am back in Russia. I miss living in Russia very much and look forward to this time when life and work no longer impede my ability to 'come home' as it were.
PS; I am in the investment banking business and have contemplated setting up such funding mechanisms for entrepreneurs in Russia and other CIS countries, where lending and investment is done in a more collaborative approach rather than this toxic usurious method. I think a more positive and collaborative approach like this may find a very receptive and productive audience.