I have snipped a bit from Natalia's most recent post on this issue: BTW, another aspect we haven't touched upon is the extent to which interest earnings, as an integral part of the current system, have contributed to our instability. I doubt the income gap would be quite as pronounced, nor would Western society be as well off, (nor able to consume/destroy quite as much), without it. I've never studied it as a theory, but can easily follow the path of inequities established
Interest and its role in our current financial understanding is very interesting. At one level, interest is the cost of using money. And like any other commodity (through I acknowledge those who abhorr the notion of money as a commodity) there is a cost to use it. So long as that cost reflects the actual cost to the person who provides the money (just as rent provides a return to the owner of a property - or a shopkeeper charges more than it cost him to buy some milk)there is no problem with interest. However, when interest reflects a monopoly rent, or is a return on money created out of nothing (which is the way banks currently create it) then it is a pox on the system - if for no other reason than it means we need to perpetually grow in order to pay off our debts. Interest is by no means an inevitable part of the system, however, the Islamic faith (and for a time many Christian faiths) actually ban it and still operate successful financial systems. regards Charles Brass _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
