Usury - the Modern Take.

Adam,

I watched a film last night 9.00 on BBC2.

Storyville.

Inside Job.

Oscar-winning documentary on how the USA Bwankers fooked up there own country and the rest of the world.

They are still at it.

Worth a look if you have not already seen it?

Stu.

Is not "usury" a sin?

It is one of the issues that Muslim culture has exactly right.

I believe that Ted Heath referred to such and such [I cannot remember what] as being an  example of,

"The unacceptible face of capitalism."

Capitalism in the Anglo-Saxon world [i.e including the UK and the USA culturally speaking at least] is a wild beast that will inevitably aim to increase the wealth of the capittal owning elite at the expence of everybody else. Of course, when taken to such extremes, the system eventually will colapse. That is why we must not only have regulation, but very stern regulation to steer this beast we call capitalism. {Mr Brown utterly failed at this in his time as of course did others before him].

Unfortunately the USA and the UK have had governments that were avowedly [or allegedly] democratic, but run for the benefit of the capitalist elite, for far too long. Eventually people will twig, but how poor do normal people have to become the poorer, in spite of genuine and honest hard work to earn their wage, to realise that there is something fundamentally rotten about the government systems of the US and UK?

I have no idea how to address this problem.

ATB from George

http://www.guardian.co.uk/mone...v/28/payday-loan-cap

Online gambling -

How many people really think these greedy little people should be allowed to profit from stupidity/desperation/stupid greed?

There are some terrible things that pass within the rules. I think it would be a good thing if the laws were alterred to ban such wage day loan interest rates being legal ...

Obvious really, but it does not solve the problem of people struggling to pay high rents, council tax water rates, and other more easily controlled utility bills on wages that are not rising over the years. But the bills continue to grow.

We live in strange times, and the strain is by no means being equally shared ...

ATB from George

Agreed. The proportion of desperate to stupid likely on the increase. Either way, why has this 'industry' has been allowed to fester so long?

Dear Mark,

The feckless will always be with us, to paraphrase ...

But many of the poor but working people is growing by the day, and it is not quite fair to see these people as stupid or in any other way undeserving. After all, there are millions who have not worked for decades and generations. These are a real drain, and are the unfortunate side effect of a wellfare system designed to humanely deal with those in genuine hardship. If these people had been prepared to work for what - for example - Polish people will, then the economy would be in a better state as well ...

I have had three redundancies in the last 18 years, and eventually left a job voluntarily, which was an either have a nervous breakdown or walk away situation.

Things have settled down now, after five years working for a super, old fashioned, and paternalistic employer. But I know all too well the problems that drive honest hardworking, low paid,  and far from feckless people to use such as a wage day loan. I never have, but it involved bread and jam or bread and butter. An interesting choice.

Without having the slightest idea of the solution, there is a real problem with the way society in the UK is working.

ATB from George

Why can people not see that "capitalism" and "crony capitalism" (where governments are bought and paid for and pick the winners & losers) are not even close to the same thing?  I mean not even remotely close.

Stu - Also, check out Matt Taibbi's articles in Rolling Stone about the crisis; he was basically the ONLY journalist here that really told it like it really happened.  And you are right, they are back at it again...and nary a one has gone to jail.  But when you own Bush & Obama both and congressmen from both parties, that's a lock not to happen.

"I need, Don Corleone, all of those politicians that you carry around in your pocket, like so many nickels and dimes. " 

Banksters are no different than the mafia really...except that you pretty much HAVE to do business with them.

Dear Dr Mark,

Your post two up makes me want to reply properly.

I shall think how to express this answer, and post tomorrow.

ATB from George

 "the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Rowland

Dear Sniper,

Yes, Tiny Rowland!

As for describing my feelings about the way Capitalism goes if insufficiently regulated ... If I did, then some of you might think I was a Socialist!

Not to worry. As it goes, I just think that unregulated Captalism is just as dangerous at 200 nuclear power stations all running without regulation!

Eventually both would wreck the would for humans. My last word on this thread ...

ATB from George