" . . . Come, see that person,
Who, released, runs back to bondage itself." [v. 344]^1m

The Laws.

"There must be no lending at interest because it will be quite in order for the borrower to refuse absolutely to return both interest and principal."^1c

" . . . [T]o be extremely virtuous and exceptionally rich at the same time is absolutely out of the question. 'Why?' . . . 'Because . . . the profit from using just and unjust methods is more than twice as much as that from just methods alone . . . "^1d*

Politics.

"The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve"^2a

"The market-place for buying and selling should be separate from [the] public square and at a distance from it . . . "^2b

"Take thou no usury of him: but fear God . . . Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase" [Leviticus 25:36-37].^1c

"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury;
Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury . . . " [Deuteronomy 23:19-20].^1d

"The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure . . .and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail . . . " [Deuteronomy 28:12-13].^1e

"If he . . .
Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him." [Ezekiel 18:10-13].^1g

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." [Romans 13:8]^1e

"Believers, do not live on usury, doubling your wealth many times over." [The 'Imrans 3:130]^1d

"Those that live in usury shall rise up before God like men whom Satan has demented by his touch; for they claim that trading is no different from usury." [The Cow 2:275]^1e

" . . . To take interest for money lent is unjust in itself, because this is to sell what does not exist, and this evidently leads to inequality, which is contrary to justice. . . Now, money according to the Philosopher^1a, was invented chiefly for the purpose of exchange, and, consequently, the proper and principal use of money is its consumption or alienation, whereby it is sunk in exchange. Hence, it is by its very nature unlawful to take payment for the use of money lent, which payment is known as interest, and just as a man is bound to restore other ill-gotten goods, so is he bound to restore the money which he has taken in interest."¹

" . . . [A]s an instrument in the struggle among powers, the credit system -- the ingenious invention of a commercial people [England] during this century -- of endlessly growing debts that remain safe against immediate demand (since the demand for payment is not made by all creditors at the same time) is a dangerous financial power. It is a war chest exceeding the treasure of all other nations taken together . . . This ease in making war, combined with the inclination of those in power to do so . . . is a great obstacle to perpetual peace. Thus, forbidding foreign debt must be a preliminary article for perpetual peace . . . "²

The Cantos of Ezra Pound. CONTROVERSIAL

XLV

With Usura

With usura hath no man a house of good stone . . .
with usura, sin against nature . . .
Stonecutter is kept from his stone
weaver is kept from his loom . . .
Usura slayeth the child in the womb . . .

N.B.  Usury: A charge for the use of purchasing power, levied without regard to production; often without regard to the possibilities of production. . . ^1a PLATO ARISTOTLE MAIMONIDES AQUINAS

"Gargantuan debts are nothing but indentured servitude."^1b

Bank-Induced Risks.

"Today, people around the world are giving themselves up recklessly to the 'calculative thinking'^3a of the marketplace. People calculate what is better -- a loan or a lease --; but, they seldom reflect on the meaning of usury. Why? Because they are too busy being indentured."³

The Laws.

"Both [money and goods], in excess, produce enmity and feuds in private and public life, while a deficiency almost invariably leads to slavery."^1a

"Money must not be deposited with anybody whom one does not trust."^1b

" . . . [T]hose who follow illiberal occupations, like . . . moneylenders who make small loans at a high rate of interest; for all these receive more than is right, and not from the right source. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice . . . "^1a

" . . . [M]oney answereth all things." [Ecclesiastes 10:19].^1a

" . . . [T]he love of money is the root of all evil" [Timothy 6:10].^1a

"And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers . . . And the scribes and chief priests . . . sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine." [St. Mark 11:15-18]^1b

The Koran.

"Let those who hoard the wealth which God has bestowed on them out of His bounty never think it good for them: it is nothing but evil." [The 'Imrans 3:181]^1a

" . . . [M]oney according to the Philosopher^1a, was invented chiefly for the purpose of exchange, and, consequently, the proper and principal use of money is its consumption or alienation, whereby it is sunk in exchange."¹ [More below]

" . . . [A] human being regarded as a person, that is, as the subject of a morally practical reason, is exalted above any price; for as a person (homo noumenon) he is not to be valued merely as a means to the ends of others or even to his own ends, but as as an end in himself; that is, he possesses a dignity (an absolute inner worth) by which he exacts respect for himself from all other rational beings in the world."^1a*

The Cantos of Ezra Pound. CONTROVERSIAL

XLVI

. . . Said Paterson:
      Hath benefit of interest on all
the moneys which it, the bank, creates out of nothing.    

Semi-private inducement
Said Mr. RothSchild, hell knows which Roth-schild
. . . "Very few people
"will understand this. Those who do will be occupied
"getting profits. The general public will probably not
"see it's against their interest."
. . . The bank makes it ex nihil
Denied by five thousand professors, will any
Jury convict 'um? . . .^1b SARTRE

The Essence of Capitalism.

" . . . [U]sing Hobbesian logic, I revealed Capitalism as a Religion of Money (banks as churches, bankers as clergy, loan applications as auricular confessions, bankruptcies as excommunications, credit bureaus as index librorum prohibitorum, etc.)."^1a

"The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" [Proverbs 22:7].^1b

The New Testament.

" . . . [T]he law entered, that the offense might abound" [Romans 5:20].^1c

" . . . [T]he priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. . . the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of better hope did . . . " [Hebrews 8:12 and 19]^1d*

"Do not devour one another's property by unjust means, nor bribe with it the judges in order that you may wrongfully and knowingly usurp the possessions of other men." [The Cow 2:188]^1b

"Give orphans the property which belongs to them. Do not exchange their valuables for worthless things or cheat them of their possession; for this would surely be a great sin." [Women 4:3]^1c

" . . . [E]thics is the science of how one is under obligation without regard for any possible external lawgiving."^1b

The Cantos of Ezra Pound. CONTROVERSIAL

LII

. . . Stinkschuld's sin drawing vengeance, poor yitts paying for
                                                                          Stinkschuld
paying for a few big jews' vendetta on goyim
. . . remarked Johnie Adams (the elder)
IGNORANCE, sheer ignorance ov the natr ov money
      sheer ignorance of credit and circulation.
Remarked Ben: better keep out the jews
      or yr/ grand children will curse you . . .^1d TACITUS HERZL HITLER SARTRE

"What we really need is a critique of Solomonic morality - 'The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender' (Proverbs 22-7)^2a*. This is the deepest and darkest root of Man's servitude . . . This is the shabbiest Magian superstition. . . This is what must be changed . . . Christian morality is the divine rebellion against the 'shabby origin'^2b of a moral order based on money. We need to revaluate Capitalism itself. Fictitious Bank-Money cannot be the grand unifying system of Man's Being."²

"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it . . . Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again . . . " [Deuteronomy 15:1-3].^1f*

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" [St. Matthew 7:12].^1f

"If your debtor be in straits, grant him a delay until he can discharge his debt; but if you waive the sum as alms it will be better for you, if you but knew it." [The Cow 2:280]^1f

¹ Aristotle. The Ethics of Aristotle: The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by J.A.K. Thomson, 1953. Revised with Notes and Appendices by Hugh Tredennick, 1976. Introduction and Bibliography by Jonathan Barnes, 1976. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd.
^a Book IV: Other Moral Virtues, at 148.

² Aristotle. Politics.  Translated by Ernest Barker, revised with an Introduction and Notes by R.F. Stalley. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1995.
a At 29-30 (1258a35).
b At 278-279 (1331a19).

¹ The Holy Bible. The Old Testament. King James Version. London, England: Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1957.
^a Ecclesiastes 10:19.
b Proverbs 22:7.
c Leviticus 25:36-37.
d Deuteronomy 23:19-20.
e Deuteronomy 28:12-13.
f Deuteronomy 15:1-3.
g Ezekiel 18:10-13.

¹ Immanuel Kant. The Metaphysics of Morals (1797). Translated and edited by Mary Gregor. With an Introduction by Roger J. Sullivan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
^a The Doctrine of Virtue, at 186.
^b Introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue, at 168.

² Immanuel Kant. To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795). Essay included in Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays on Politics, History, and Moral Practice. Translated with an Introduction by Ted Humphrey. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1983, at 107-143.

¹ Edward E. Ayoub, with the assistance of Trudé K. Ayoub. The Essence of Capitalism. Toronto, ON: Macroknow Inc., 2000.

² Edward E. Ayoub, with the assistance of Trudé K. Ayoub. World War III Against The Money Trust? Book III, Chapter 1: The Essence of Capitalism. Toronto, Ontario: Macroknow Inc., 1998.
^a According to Rev. David Fant, Solomon was the principal writer or compiler of Proverbs; see Rev. David J. Fant, Helps to the Understanding of the Bible, in The Holy Bible, King James Version, 1957, at 14.
^b Nietzsche's expression for "The supreme values in whose service man should live"; ibid., number 7, at 10-11.

³ Edward E. Ayoub. Bank-Induced Risks. Toronto, Ontario: Macroknow Inc., 1998.
^a Heidegger's expression. The Principle of Reason, at 122 and 129 (on "calculative thinking" vs. "reflective thinking"). Translated by Reginald Lilly. Verlag Gunther Neske, Pfullingen, 1957 (Der Satz vom Grund). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991.