JIHAD?

 The basic principle of Islamic banking is the prohibition of Riba (Usury or interest), a notion western bankers could easily get into bed with today if for nothing but to save what's left of their souls.

Islamic banks also prohibit lending money to the businesses of gambling, prostitution or any other "-illegal' activity, activities to which western money is most often blind.

Islamic banks cannot gamble. Neither with their money nor yours. Especially yours, and especially on Lloyds of London--will it snow on Christmas Day in London this year?"--type of unbelievably obscure "derivatives" which have overwhelmed the western banking system.

"The essential difference between the Islamic economic system and the capitalist system is that in Islam wealth belongs to God--the individual being only its manager. It is a means, not a goal. In capitalism, it is the reverse: money belongs to the individual, and is a goal in and of itself."--(Saudi Islamic banker His Highness Dr. Nayef bin Fawaaz ibn Sha'alan).

It's been dubbed "The Clash of Civilizations" and if you look at the Oriental symbol for the Tao, the Yin-Yang circle, you will see how difficult it is to make judgments in this "clash" between the stone and the electric chair and the rope.

A BEGINNING FROM THE END?

"Often referred to as a sub-prime mortgage collapse, this obfuscates the real reason. By associating tangible useless failed mortgages, at least something 'real' can be blamed for the carnage. The problem is, this is myth. The magnitude of this fiscal collapse happened because it was all based on hot air.

"The banking industry renamed insurance betting guarantees as 'credit default swaps' and risky gambling wagers were called 'derivatives'. Financial managers and banking executives were selling the ultimate con to the entire world, akin to the snake-oil salesmen from the 18th century but this time in suits and ties. And by October 2008 it was a quadrillion-dollar (that's $1,000 trillion) industry that few could understand.

 "In sum, the crash of the entire global economic system is a result of America's fiscal arrogance based upon one set of rules for itself and another for the rest of the world. Its increased creative financing deluded its people into a false sense of security, and now looks like the failure of capitalism altogether.

"The whole exercise in democracy by force against Arab Muslim nations has almost bankrupted the US. The Cold War is over and the US has nothing to offer: no exports, no production, few natural resources, and no service sector economy.

"The very markets that resisted US economic policies the most, having curbed foreign direct investments into America, are those who will fare best and come out ahead.

I hope that what we have bought with that price may be one of the keys to a more equitable, resource-based world economy.

And who am I to talk? Well, I'm like a stockholder--I own this planet, too.

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