Dear Friends
I snip from an exchange between our friends, and, then, comment.
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From: "Ray E. Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Ed Goertzen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Einstein: Time's man of the century [China]
Date: Fri, Jan 14, 2000, 2:23 AM
I asked and still am asking:
"why a
"sedentary China" is considered less advanced than a predatory Europe?
(snip)
Ed's reply:I have made the point before, (perhaps generously ignored), that
the international trade that took place between nation states in antiquity
were facillitated with money. The anomaly of monetary systems created a
balance of payments imbalance. That imbalance required the armys of the
creditor nations (and their mercinaries, paid for with money) to collect
the debts.
True in Europe, I suppose but seems like it has to be more complicated
than that. Almost all professions have a theoretical framework for
the reason the world revolves around their view of it. Why should
economists be any different.
*****************
I'll try, at the end, to reproduce the essence of an analysis of the way in which the pie is cut up under capitalism.
The relevence to this discussion, is the fact that, once the owners of capital (land, knowledge/information and money) have received/appropriated part of the produced 'goods,' they have to find a buyer for it, if they are to convert those goods into a commodity (money) that is useful/valuable to them.
Once this had been done in the early phase of proto-capitalism ('Mercantilism') the proto-capitalists (the merchants) *then* had need of using these monetary surpuses for further gain/profit.
This was their greed and their self deception, since trading for profit was un-Christian (see The Gospel of Thomas Verse 64 for a clear statement of Jesus' view of trading.)
They. thus, pressurised the religious/secular authorities to trash, yet further, the Christian ethical code, by demanding the legitimation of usury (money lending for profit), which, in England, Henry VIII did for them in 1545.
(see Harry Page 'In Restraint of Usury' for historical background, and, also, see Verse 95 in The Gospel of Thomas for Jesus ' comment on usury:
"If you have money, do not lend it at interest, rather, give it to some-one from whom you will not get it back."
- I particularly like the book 'The Gospel of Thomas' by Richard Valantansis - all Christians should be aware of the words there - at present they are not aware!)
The problem with usury (well, one of the problems with usury!) is its compound nature, and, thus, the exponential nature of the devilry that it creates - as we see in today's planetary mayhem.
The *only* solution to all the world's suffering is the abolition of usury - hence our Campaign for Interest-Free Money and its petition to Governments to a) abolish usury and b) the create Public Service, interest-free Banking and Financial systems.
(Please let others know this? Thanks.)
Now, that diagram (apologies if it doesn't e-transfer well):
__________A
Wages
-----
Salaries
-----
Perks
___________B
Interest on lent money
_____
Dividends on shares ('owned knowledge')
_____
Rent on owned land
__________________________________________C
Proceeds of sale of energy, raw materials
___________________________________________D
(The vertical scale from A -> C is "Surplus" or "Added Value" on the cost of energy and raw materials.
The step A -> B is the return on labour.
The step B -> C is the return on the three factors of production (aka 'Capital')
(You can see from this, how conflict arises, how wages get pushed down in a competitive market and how the workforce never receives enough money to buy back its production, and, so, why inflation is caused.)
BTW - I'm a mechanistic organic chemist, rather (thank heaven) than a classically-trained economist, hence my diagrammatic representations.
HTH !
Many hugs
j
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