ThirstyFish

The passage Proverbs 22:7 is translated as "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" or "the borrower is the slave to the lender". There is some controversy about which of these is the more accurate translation, but is clear that servant in this context does not mean employee!

Dept is a deferred liability when a lender willfully lends a sum of assets to a burrower with the expectation of repayment, usually with interest. The interest charged on dept is historically known as usury, however, in the recent centuries, the term has come to mean only excessive interest. Hmmm!

Many major religions such as Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, as well as prominent philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas were against usury altogether or limited its practice. For example, the Catholic Church allowed lending with interest only from 1822 onwards.

At all levels, personal, household, corporate or government, debt can have detrimental effects. In fact, it can be regarded as a form of slavery. In a world where consumerism, consuming materials in excess of basic needs, is highly encouraged, and where debt is promoted as opportunity, it is not unusual that we find ourselves broke, and feel deceived and hopeless. Lenders, simultaneously prey upon us using sophisticated deceptive techniques, and, blame us for being irresponsible with our spending. Undoubtedly some of us are irresponsible, but...

For example, we are (deceptively) led to believe that college education is a secure step to the future. While college tuition is increasing twice as fast as inflation, lenders are lining up to provide us with student loans at subprime interest rates. When we do graduate, we are finding ourselves in great debt, unemployed or in low paying jobs, and in a society where the poor are getting poorer while the rich get richer. We are learning that, with pretense of providing opportunities, the banking sector is enslaving not only us as individuals, but also our government, and the governments and people of the world.

More Occupy photos.

Song of the Day: Busted - Johnny Cash and Ray Charles (1970)