re: #156 wheat-dogg

Indeed, there were strict prohibitions against Christians lending money (neither a lender nor a borrower be), but Jews were exempt from such canon and secular laws. Then as now, many people love to borrow money to get things they want, but they’re not always keen on paying the loan back. See Trump, exhibits A-Z. So, rulers could just expel the bankers and lenders — problem solved!

“Neither a lender nor a borrower be” is from Shakespeare. The Christians simply believed that money is “sterile” and cannot “breed” new money, hence the ban on interest.

But interest is not about generating money, it is about consolidating it further into the hands of the lenders…