Another cogent post from fredericguarino this one has Ariana Huffington bridging the gap that occurs when what we think is so different from what the reality really is (aka the Absurd Disconnect):
“we also need to recognize that we all have a responsibility to do our part and rebuild our communities and rebuild our lives, beginning with rebuilding our own financial literacy so we can move our own family onto safer financial ground. Because this is financial warfare. The credit card companies, the mortgage companies that have been offering us, supposedly, a ticket to the good life, are really filling their contracts with tricks and traps, charging usury rates, 28, 29, 30 percent on our credit cards, and basically undermining the very idea of the American dream.”
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Tavis Smiley . Shows . Arianna Huffington . September 20, 2010 | PBS
I’ve always been a fan of Arianna Huffington (even if I hate her website) and once again, she speaks the truth, even if it is a pretty obvious truth to anyone smart/cynical enough to look past the wishful thinking all of us did when signing up for a credit card. Her mention of interest rates made me think of something I heard Robert Scheer say on Democracy Now yesterday:
So, you know, something that the Bible scripture calls for, whether you’re Hebraic, Christian or a Muslim tradition, usury is condemned. It’s condemned far more than anything else in the Bible. And yet, you know, if you dare suggest we not charge 35 percent interest to somebody on their credit card, my God, no, that can’t be.
Yeah, I always forget about how, if you’re a good Christian, Jew or Muslim, you should never charge interest or be willing to pay it, really. That’s what usury is—or at least, that’s what it was. Once greed kicked in and money became more important than the Bible or God, usury became excessive interest. So, imagine if “thou shalt not kill” became “thou shalt not kill, very often.” It’s sort of like that—ridiculous.
But now our entire economy is based on usury. The Federal Reserve loans money to the US economy and the US economy has to pay it back with interest. That money is then loaned out by banks to us with interest.
Huffington is right, but it’s not just with credit card contracts and mortgages. It’s with all money period—every dollar in our pocket or digit in our bank account represents money borrowed ultimately from the Fed for a fee.
And we are never taught this growing up. Well, I know I wasn’t. We didn’t have so much as a section in Home Ec class in how to balance a checkbook. I can, however, make a killer egg-in-a-frame, to this day.
