William Greider: If ten percent is good enough for God, it should be enough for the bankers

[marmar]

from The Nation:



Stop Usury Now
By William Greider

December 10, 2009


The Democratic party brushed aside the question of usury last spring when Congress decided not to impose any limits on the ruinous interest rates charged by major banks and other lenders. But usury is now back on the table, put in play by Metro IAF, an alliance of two dozen faith-based community organizations affiliated nationwide with the Industrial Areas Foundation. These politically savvy community groups draw their members from diverse religions and across the usual divisions of race and class. They are staging face-to-face "actions" to confront bankers and politicians around the country with a blunt moral message. Usury is a sin, Judaism, Christianity and Islam agree, and must be stopped.

This demand is expressed in their slogan: "Ten Percent Is Enough." The campaign seeks a legal ceiling of ten percent imposed on the interest rates for credit cards and predatory practices like "payday loans." Ten percent approximates the old ceiling on interest rates before 1980, when deregulation repealed the federal law against usury. Ten percent is also the tithe religious adherents give to their churches. As one IAF campaigner put it, "If 10 percent is good enough for God, it should be enough for the bankers."

The anti-usury initiative was launched in mid-summer, from Boston to North Carolina, from New York City to the Midwest, and has already produced some startling results. In Massachusetts, the leading candidate for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat, Attorney General Martha Coakley, answered "yes, yes, yes, yes" to the demands expressed by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, when 800 of its members turned out to address the candidates.

Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York heard about the anti-usury actions and contacted the organizers to say she is introducing a bill to cap interest rates at 16 percent. Slaughter evidently changed her mind about usury. Last spring, as chair of the powerful House Rules committee, Slaughter blocked similar measures and would not even allow a floor vote on the issue. Many Democrats want to avoid a roll call on usury because it will compel them choose between their constituents and the bankers. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091221/greider2

[anonymous171]

1. YES! Usury is immoral and bankers are agents of evil. nt

[MercutioATC]

2. Stoning to death is good enough for god, too...

One can take biblical analogies a little too far.

[brentspeak]

3. Stoning...and bankers -- the two might go together

:evilgrin:

[DJ13]

5. Im in favor when it comes to bankers

[nykym]

4. Many Democrats want to avoid a roll call on usury

because it will compel them choose between their constituents and the bankers.

Gee why would we not want this? I think it would be a great way to see who's for us and who's against us. It may even be a useful way to find out the same about other legislation. If they want it that way then they have to own it! Plain & Simple.

[kenny blankenship]

6. God is small potatoes

[Newsjock]

7. Not just yes, but hell yes

Why does Congress hate the teachings of God?

[TexasObserver]

8. Not comparable. One is interest for loss of use of money, one is a gift.

I favor lower thresholds for usury. Thirty years ago, an interest rate of over 18% per annum would have been usurious in Texas. I don't think 10% as the level at which usury kicks in is reasonable. It needs to be higher. And I don't think invoking God or the tithing notion is anything but a bad rabbit trail one should not go down.

[brentspeak]

11. Banks borrow from the Fed at rates close to zero

Currently something like 0.25%. Free money. A 10% interest rate on cards is therefore still an enormous profit margin for banks.

[TexasObserver]

14. No, it's not free money, or close to it.

If a bank loan goes bad, the loan is charged off against the bank's capital, which means a dollar for dollar loss of equity.

A 10% interest rate on cards won't even cover charge offs.

[jtrockville]

9. Why not tie it to prime?

[Igel]

10. Oddly,

I first heard the "If 10% is good enough for God, then it's good enough for _____ " over 30 years ago.

In the blank wasn't "bankers", but "the government." With the implication being that the government considered itself more important than God.

Probably true, as far as how the bankers think about themselves.

Then again, 10% was what went for the Levites. In addition to free will offerings required thrice annually by every male. Then there was the tithe that people were to keep for their own holy day use. And the tithe that went for the widows and orphans "the third year". (I've never heard a convincing argument if that means every 3 or year 3 out of the 7-year cycle.)

[hayu_lol]

12. 10% is more than generous for card interest...

and make it retroactive and then cap it.

A second possibility is to allow card holders to deduct the interest on card balances. That would get the legislature into high gear to stop the usury. We used to be able to deduct card interest.

When I was a kid in the late 30s/40s, interest of 30% saw people go to prison for loansharking.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. The new DU bumpersticker. N/T