The
results of the recent economic collapse
and current depression have been
devastating to scores of millions of
Americans. In Metro Industrial
Areas Foundation (Metro IAF), a network
of 17 broad-based citizens
organizations throughout the East Coast
and the Midwest, organizers and leaders
do not just look at statistics. They
look at people’s eyes as people talk
about lost homes, jobs, pensions,
savings and dreams for their future and
for their children’s futures.
People’s lives have been turned upside down in a remarkably short period of time. At first, too many blamed themselves for what was happening. They felt shame and suffered in isolation and in silence. They did not want to let neighbors, friends, and other members of their congregations know how much they had lost.
However, as the facts have emerged, people’s shame has turned into anger. Many bankers and mortgage brokers peddled impossible loans the way dealers push drugs. Unrestrained credit card companies kept multiplying and refining ways to cripple borrowers. So-called financial experts and advisors gambled away the pensions and savings of Americans who had worked hard and responsibly their entire lives in schemes that were riskier than betting on the roulette wheel at a casino.
People’s lives have been turned upside down in a remarkably short period of time. At first, too many blamed themselves for what was happening. They felt shame and suffered in isolation and in silence. They did not want to let neighbors, friends, and other members of their congregations know how much they had lost.
However, as the facts have emerged, people’s shame has turned into anger. Many bankers and mortgage brokers peddled impossible loans the way dealers push drugs. Unrestrained credit card companies kept multiplying and refining ways to cripple borrowers. So-called financial experts and advisors gambled away the pensions and savings of Americans who had worked hard and responsibly their entire lives in schemes that were riskier than betting on the roulette wheel at a casino.
Along
with the huge financial loss that
people have experienced, trust has also
eroded – trust in elected
officials and a public sector that
should have warned and protected people
and trust in the financial and a market
sector that produced nothing and preyed
on many.
Recent responses fall into two categories. The first is a movement to limit the compensation of those who lead the nation's major financial institutions. This effort has appeal because it appears to punish some of those who were most responsible for the economic collapse. The second response is to create a new agency for consumer protection that would take years to establish, staff, and operate. Neither response – one dramatic but token, the other rational butbureaucratic – represents an adequate answer to the core question.
Passing laws against usury – the practice of overcharging borrowers – is Metro IAF's answer to that core question. The fundamental right of people to be protected from exploitation if and when they seek credit must be reasserted. By outlawing usury, the president and the Congress would restore both financial fairness and equity to the relationship between the lender and the borrower again.
Both religious and civic prohibitions against usury are age-old. Ezekiel, 18:10-13, compares a usurer to someone who “is a thief, a murderer. . . . who oppresses the poor and the needy.” The Koran tells us that “god condemns usury.” America's founding fathers feared the impact of usurious practices. After 1776, all states adopted general usury laws. Most states limited interest rates to 6%.
MORE...
Recent responses fall into two categories. The first is a movement to limit the compensation of those who lead the nation's major financial institutions. This effort has appeal because it appears to punish some of those who were most responsible for the economic collapse. The second response is to create a new agency for consumer protection that would take years to establish, staff, and operate. Neither response – one dramatic but token, the other rational butbureaucratic – represents an adequate answer to the core question.
Passing laws against usury – the practice of overcharging borrowers – is Metro IAF's answer to that core question. The fundamental right of people to be protected from exploitation if and when they seek credit must be reasserted. By outlawing usury, the president and the Congress would restore both financial fairness and equity to the relationship between the lender and the borrower again.
Both religious and civic prohibitions against usury are age-old. Ezekiel, 18:10-13, compares a usurer to someone who “is a thief, a murderer. . . . who oppresses the poor and the needy.” The Koran tells us that “god condemns usury.” America's founding fathers feared the impact of usurious practices. After 1776, all states adopted general usury laws. Most states limited interest rates to 6%.
MORE...