Capitalism Condemned in Scriptures; Let's Dump It

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By Jay Janson (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Jay Janson - Writer

Capitalism, Initially Condemned in Scriptures As Immoral, Proves Itself So. Let's Dump It!

Our present scare of suffering from a bankrupt fraudulent banking system run by amoral capitalists in cahoots with their corrupted and complicit cronies in government points to a climate of immorality, arrogance and mindless uncontrolled violence within our accepted modes of predatory capitalist society: a society guilty of crimes against humanity, hypocritically claimed as victories over evil and backwardness in the Third World.

Overwhelmingly responsible for the basic dishonesty of the American led globalization race to commoditize the natural resources of the entire world for private profit is the public's omniscient teacher, conglomerate owned and cartelized entertainment/news media - a corporate interest serving industry that reaches down into elementary schools and molds the disinformation from which sermons are given from pulpits all over the nation.

Though we all still have that kernel of truth dormant inside us, ostensibly taught us by all our religions, namely, that usury is sinful to the highest degree, Big Brother commercial media has long glossed over and buried this moral teaching in a pile of kitsch and desperate pleasure seeking selfishness promotion.

But even this atheist can recall the many injunctions and exhortations for sane behavior found in religious scripture regarding injurious practices of capital accumulation, e.g.

In Hebrew belief:

"The Torah and Talmud encourage the granting of loans, but only if it doesn't involve interest, with certain exceptions. Charging interest is classed in the Book of Ezekiel as being among the worst sins, and is forbidden according to Jewish law. The Talmud dwells particularly on Ezekiel's condemnation of interest, where Ezekiel denounces it as an abomination, and metaphorically portrays usurers as people who have shed blood.

In The Bible,

The Torah expresses regulations against the charging of interest in the Exodus 22:25-27, Leviticus 25:36-37 and Deuteronomy 23:20-21. In Leviticus loans themselves are encouraged, whether of money or food, emphasizing that they enable the poor to regain their independence, but, like the other two places in the Bible, forbids the charging of interest on the loan. All three places state that the charging of interest is exploitative. In Exodus and Deuteronomy it is clear that it would be acceptable to charge interest on any loan to a non-Israelite. [from Wikipedia article on usury]"

And from The Qur'an,

"Those who charge usury are in the same position as those controlled by the devil's influence. This is because they claim that usury is the same as commerce. However, GOD permits commerce, and prohibits usury. ... As for those who persist in usury, they incur Hell, wherein they abide forever" [2:275]

Consider what misanthropic unfairness the world puts up in the name of 'practical economics':

Firstly, private finance capitalists are forced by competition to base almost every and all endeavor for wealth accumulation on usury at the highest rate socially bearable while secondly, seeking to artificially arrange situations wherein from a pool of the landless, captive citizens are forced to into acceptance of the duress of forced labor at the mercy of usurers, who, with the cooperation of government, manage to compound usury further by lending and purchasing with money they do not actually posses; money that does not exist except fictitiously; money created through the issuance of certificates backed by only by a fraction of the trading value of such certificates but deviously and deceptively recognized as legal tender by governments whose officials are cronies of capitalists and complicit participants in their unjust and kleptomaniac system of the financial domination of all Mankind within their reach.

Thomas Jefferson warned America in the 1809 Debate Over The Re-charter Of The Bank Bill,

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies . . . If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

And an elucidating in depth 1937 warning from Lord Josiah Stamp, after serving many years as Director of The Bank of England,

"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The most astounding piece of sleight of hand ever invented. If you want to be slaves of bankers, and pay the costs of your own slavery, let the banks create money. Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money."

With the near monopoly on dissemination of news and information exercised by conglomerate owned media, it is logical and intentional that ninety-nine percent of the citizenry believe that the Federal Reserve is a real government institution. The word 'Federal' was purposely and misleadingly placed in its title. What kind of Reserve? A government reserve and lender of last resort? No! Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned.

"The Federal Reserve System virtually controls the nation's monetary system, yet it is accountable to no one. It has no budget; it is subject to no audit; and no Congressional Committee knows of, or can truly supervise, its operations." [Murray N. Rothbard, economist and academic advisor of the Ludwig von Mises Institute]

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, appointed by the President of the United States, is the link that wields together private capital and government.

Was Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan for years shaping the present melt down as a dedicated follower of Ayn Rand, whose amoral philosophy of 'enlightened selfishness' is said to have appealed to Greenspan more than the free-market skepticism of John Maynard Keynes[*]?

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Musician and writer, who has lived and worked on all the continents and whose articles on media have been published in China, Italy, England and the US, and now resides in New York City.

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