The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless “The Money Civilization” and the Present-Day Crisis All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2015 Valentin Katasonov v1.0 Cover Photo © 2015 thinkstockphotos.com All rights reserved - used with permission This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews Outskirts Press, Inc http://www.outskirtspress.com ISBN: 978-1-4787-2886-3 Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Contents Foreword .xiii Introduction Part Crises and the Usury Virus Chapter Crises: the Conventional Explanations 13 Cited Literature to Chapter 17 Chapter Karl Marx about Crises 20 Political Economy by Marx: Capitalism Definition 20 Dialectic of Riches and Power 21 Capitalism Is an Antichristian Civilization 22 Marx’s Doctrine: Half-Truth or Half-Lie 23 Cited Literature to Chapter 24 Chapter Monetary System of Capitalism 25 Money and Capital 25 What Do You Need to Turn Money into Capital? 26 No Servant Can Serve Two Masters 28 Cited Literature to Chapter 30 Chapter Usury “Virus” 32 Usury: Origin of “Virus” 32 Jacques Attali’s Revelation 35 Warning of Aristotle and Holy Fathers 37 Cited Literature to Chapter 42 Part Beginning of the “Money Civilization” and End of the Economics Chapter “ Money Revolution”: Partial Legalization of the Usurious Interest 47 Permanent “Money Revolution” as a Means of Struggle of the Usurers for World Domination 47 Roman Catholic Church: Forming of the Usury Double Approach 49 Cited Literature to Chapter 53 Chapter “Money Revolution”: Complete Legalization of the Usurious Interest 54 Usury in Medieval Europe 54 The Reformation and the Usury Further Attack 58 History of Europe as a Chain of “Money Revolutions” and “Money Counterrevolutions” 61 Cited Literature to Chapter 64 Chapter “Economy Death” and Something about “Economic Philology” 67 Economy and Chrematistic 67 Capitalism by Marx 69 “Professional Economists”—Creators of the New Language 71 Ivor Benson about the “Economic Science” and “Professional Economists” 73 “Economic Science” and “Professional Economists” Serving the Usurers 76 Cited Literature to Chapter 82 Part “Debt Economy” as a Mode of Existence of the “Money Civilization” Chapter Credit Money and “Debt Economy”: England and America 87 Credit Money Is an Invention of the Usurers 87 Great Britain Is a Pattern of “Debt Economy” 90 America Is the World’s Debtor 92 American “Economy” Is a Colossus with Feet of Clay 107 Citied Literature to Chapter 110 Chapter “Debt Economy” in the Global Dimension 112 “Debt Economy” in Countries of Western Europe and Japan 112 Credit Attack of the Usurers to the “Third World” Countries 113 “Debt Pit” for Argentina 117 Bluff of the Chilean “Miracle” 120 ) Debt “Trap” for Developing Countries 124 Cited Literature to Chapter 127 Part Credit Money, or Why Society Is Always Short of Money Chapter 10 Credit Money and Crises 131 J B Say’s Law, or Simple Commodity Production 131 Capitalist Production: Where Does the Profit Come From? 133 Credit Money—Profit—Crisis 136 Credit Money: Risks of the Usurers and Society 139 Crises Is the “Golden” Time of Usurers 141 Cited Literature to Chapter 10 143 Chapter 11 Credit Money—Virus of Breaking Down 146 Money as a Medium and a Purpose 146 “Lust for Money” and Unnatural Needs 147 “Lust for Money”: “Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes” 150 “Lust for Money” and Squandering of the “Market Economy” 151 About False Mirrors of the Statistics and “Public Consequence” of the Usurers 153 Credit Money and Inflation 155 “Itch for Money” and Property Polarization of Society 159 Credit Money—a Virus of Physical and Spiritual Destruction of Man 162 Cited Literature to Chapter 11 163 Part “Partial Redundancy” or Judicial Fraud Chapter 12 “Money Revolution”: Legalization of the “Partial Redundancy” 167 Partial Redundancy = Coinage Offence 167 “Asymmetry” of Credit and Deposit Operations of Banks 170 How Usurers Struggled for Legalization of the Partial Redundancy 171 Politicians as Lobbyists of the Partial Redundancy 175 Voluntary Depositing for the Purpose of Financial Pyramid Building 178 One-Way Street 182 Partial Redundancy and Financial Crises 184 Cited Literature to Chapter 12 185 Chapter 13 As the Usurers Struggle with Bank Crises 187 Lender of Last Resort 187 “Legal Reserve Requirements” or Fig-Leaf of Counterfeiters 189 Chain Reaction in the “Monetary and Credit Reactor” 191 Counterfeiters in Battle for Their Rights 192 A Straw for a Drowning Man 193 Who Pays for Bank Crises? 195 Dollars from Helicopters 197 Banking “Socialism” 202 Cited Literature to Chapter 13 207 Chapter 14 Full-Reserve Method: Utopia or Reality? 209 No Utopia, but Historical Evidence 209 Attempts to Introduce Proper Order 211 Projects Called: “The Wolves Are Sated and the Sheep Intact” 215 Cited Literature to Chapter 14 218 Part Key Milestones of “Money Revolution” Chapter 15 “ Money Revolution”: Creation of Securities and Stock Exchange 221 The Third Level of the Financial System 221 Stock Exchanges and First Joint-Stock Companies 222 Stock Exchange and “Panlibhonco” 226 Investment Banks and Manipulations in Stock Exchanges 227 Technologies of Stock Jobbers 229 Inside or “a One-Way Street” Case 233 Gambling House Rather Than Economy 237 Cited Literature to Chapter 15 240 Chapter 16 “Money Revolution”: Creation of Central Banks 242 Why Do Usurers Need the Central Bank? 242 Bank of England 244 Bank of France 249 United States of America: Long Way to the Central Bank 253 Federal Reserve System of the USA 260 “Fright We Have Not Seen Before” 269 Modern Crisis: “Passions” Round the Central Banks 273 Bank of Russia or FRS Branch? 280 Cited Literature to Chapter 16 288 Chapter 17 “ Money Revolution”: Introduction and Cancellation of the Gold Standard 291 The Rothschilds and Gold Standard 291 The End of the Gold Standard and Beginning of the New World Financial Order 297 Monetarism as Ideological Substantiation of New Financial Order 299 Current Crisis and “Renaissance” of Gold 302 Gold Is the Main Secret of the World Usurers 304 Cited Literature to Chapter 17 311 Chapter 18 M  oney Demand Making—the Usurers’ Priority Mission 312 Twofold Mission of the Usurers 312 Hypothecary and Consumer Credits as a Great Way of the Usurer Problem Solving 313 Technologies of Creation of Demand for “Services” of Usurers on the Part of the Government 317 Cited Literature to Chapter 18 320 Part Liberalization as the Highest Stage of the “Money Civilization” Development Chapter 19 U  niversal Liberalization as a Way of Forming a Demand for Money 323 “Economical Liberalization” Has already Been in the World History 323 Guidelines for Modern Liberalization 326 Price Liberalization or Uncontrolled Freedom of Monopolies 327 Liberalization of the Capital International Movement or “Everything for Sale!” 331 Intangible Assets Constructing 336 National Financial Capitalism 338 Cited Literature to Chapter 19 340 Chapter 20 Liberalization: Innovations in the Share and Credit Markets 342 New Technologies and Usurer Projects in the Financial Markets by the Close of the Twentieth Century 342 Companies as a Sale-Purchase and Gamble Object 351 Who Helps the Usurers to Play the Share Market? 356 Economic Science Is in the Speculators’ Service 361 Investments in Quotes 363 Financial Markets Rocking and Forming of Demand for the FRS “Production” 364 Cited Literature to Chapter 20 368 Chapter 21 D  erivatives Instruments, or the Finance Babel Tower 370 Derivatives Instruments, or Final Virtualization of Finance 370 Magic Wand Called CDS 373 Virtual World as an Instrument of the Real World Control 374 The Fourth Level of the Financial Pyramid 379 Is It Possible to Build the Infinite Financial Pyramid? 382 Virtual World Constructing 385 Derivatives Are the Last Page of the “Money Civilization” History 388 Cited Literature to Chapter 21 389 Part Money Civilization: Life in “Shadow” Chapter 22 “Shadow Economy” as a Way of Existence of the World Usurers 393 “Shadow Economy”: Concept and Scope 393 “Tax Havens” and “Financial Confidentiality Jurisdiction” 397 Offshores Are the Threat to Sovereign Economy 401 Charitable Funds as “Inner” Offshores 403 The United States and Great Britain Are the Major Patrons of the Offshore Business 407 Secrecy as a Way of the “Market Economy” Existence 410 How the West “Struggles” against the “Shadow Economy” 413 “Shadow Economy” and Special Service 417 Cited Literature to Chapter 22 421 Chapter 23 Banks as the Principal Institution of the “Shadow Economy” 423 Eurocurrency Market Is the World’s Financial System Offshore 423 Money Authorities: Complete “Shadow” 427 Crime and Secret Service Connections of Banks: History of the BCCI Bank 430 Vatican’s Bank: the Institution of “Untouchable” 434 Cited Literature to Chapter 23 439 Part Money, Credit, Usury: Theory and Life Chapter 24 How Is the Today Money Supported? 443 What Is “Cover of Money”? 443 Money Commodity Collateral 444 Flat Money 446 Money Forced Collateral 451 Occupation Money 455 Money after September 11, 2001 461 Cited Literature to Chapter 24 468 Chapter 25 What They Write about Credits and Usury Here and There 470 Mainstream and “Economical Opposition” in the Western World 470 What Our “Economics” Textbooks Say about Money and Usurers 474 Cited Literature to Chapter 25 480 Chapter 26 Karl Marx, Rothschilds, and Mechanisms of the People Debt Depredation 482 About the Balance of Industrial, Commercial, and Bank Capital 482 Henry Ford, Henry George, Silvio Gesell about Money and Economy 487 The Methods of Working-Class Depredation 490 Capitalist Crisis: Overproduction or Underconsumption? 492 M Bakunin about Marx and the Rothschilds 494 Cited Literature to Chapter 26 495 Part 10 “Money Civilization”: Global Dimension Chapter 27 “ Food Chains” and “Pyramids” of the “Money Civilization” 499 The Laws of Biology and the Laws of the Capitalist Jungle 499 World Financial Pyramid 502 Exchange Rate as a Tool of International Plunder 508 Unequal Exchange as a Law of “Market Economy” 511 Outlaws and Outsiders of the World Financial Pyramid 518 “Democratic” Russia in the World Financial Pyramid 519 Cited Literature to Chapter 27 524 Chapter 28 Corporatism as a Modern Form of the “Money Civilization” 525 Monopoly Dictatorship 525 External Expansion of Capital, or Imperialism 528 Alliance of the State and Monopolies 528 State Monopoly Capitalism, or “Legalized Embezzlement” 532 Government Programmes or “Panamas”? 534 Privatization of the State as the Aim of Usurers 539 Cited Literature to Chapter 28 547 Chapter 29 Central Banks in the Global Context 549 International Network and Hierarchy of Central Banks 549 The “Gray Cardinal” of the Usurers’ World 553 On the Way to the World Central Bank 559 Cited Literature to Chapter 29 561 Chapter 30 “Money Civilization”: The Threat to Human Existence 562 Capitalism = Inefficiency + Aggressiveness 562 Russia as an Object of Usurious Aggression 567 Usurers as the Organisers of the Second World War 568 Military Escort for Export of Goods and Capital 573 War as a Great Business Project 576 America’s Debts Are a Threat to Humanity 580 World Government and World Slaveholding Order 584 Cited Literature to Chapter 30 591 ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless see this throughout the world: corporations and wealthy families create funds For instance, the Rockefeller family They not have much money They have millions, not billions Billions are enclosed in funds Thus, we have here a lifeless collection of dead souls [emphasis added, V K.].”530 Gradually, an intellectual and spiritual degradation happens to those who are busy “making money.” This applies in equal measure to usurers and those whom they perverted into this “making.”531 Many works of fiction written on this matter,532 and life throws up good examples of this almost every day We present an excerpt from an interesting article by Valery Podguzov in this context: “The practice of centuries has shown that, succeeding as an entrepreneur, the individual is inevitably degrading as creator First, the attitude of entrepreneurs to nature and to society is limited by exploitation Second, the potential of businessman personality fast dwindling because owning land and natural resources, factories for production of atomic bombs and coffins, toilets and drugs, beer and diapers, self-targetable missiles and democratic newspapers an individual, paradoxically, doom himself to meaningless nilateralization Indicated productions, dramatically different technically, as clones are equable in their economic substance All happening in the market economy submits to profit only, and this very index occupies the thoughts of a successful businessman and leaves no room for other issues This index exchanges the time of the businessman`s life for the growth of zeros on his bank account The businessman is a carrier of steady psychopathy, compensating his inability to create, think original by routine replication of cyclopean number of zeros on his bank account In other words, the entrepreneur is an individual, trying paranoid to change absent quality of versatility, i.e., individuality “by quantity of property, and sometimes symbols 530 Interview with L LaRouche 01/11/1993//Internet Russian site «Executive Intelligence Review» Интервью с Л Ларушем 01.11.1993 Интернет Русскоязычный сайт «Executive Intelligence Review» 531 See Chapter 32, “‘Spiritual’ Mission of Usurers,” section, “Victories of the ‘Money Revolution’ and Spiritual Enslavement of Christianity.’” 532 Recall, for example, the novel of N V Gogol, The Portrait Достаточно вспомнить, например, повесть Н.В Гоголя «Портрет» ) 668 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) of ownership.533 We emphasize once again that the above applies equally to usurers and those who try to imitate them (and whom usurers seduced in “making money”) I have formed the impregnable belief: today, the financial world and its people have to be studied not by “professional economists,” but by professional doctors (especially psychiatrists) and priests (especially those who specialize in “graces” of the “possessed”) A topic of mental and spiritual diseases of those who are immersed in the modern world of financial speculation and manipulation today is still poorly studied For example, all handbooks and textbooks on psychiatry refer to such a disease as “ludomania.” Simply, it is called gambling This addiction is no less dangerous to humans than drug addictions or alcoholism For some reason (probably mechanically), doctors consider only limited cases of gambling like playing cards, roulette, and other games of chance in special establishments (casinos, slot machine halls, etc.).534 But the most important fact recedes from the range of their vision—people are addicted to financial “games”—on the stock, foreign exchange, and other exchanges as well as addiction to “pyramid schemes” and other financial machinations that take place outside of the 533 Podguzov, Valery Personality and Market Proryv magazine, 2003 (http//www.proriv.ru) Words highlighted in bold are made ​​by the author of the article Валерий Подгузов Личность и рынок//журнал «Прорыв», 2003 (http//www.proriv.ru) Выделение слов жирным шрифтом сделано автором статьи 534 See, Hooked by the Game Non-chemical Addiction (pathological passion) M.: Publishing house of Soulkeeping Orthodox Center of Holy Orthodox Iogann Kronshtadtsky, 2007; Yu V Popov, V D Vid Modern clinical psychiatry M., 1997, A O Buhanevsky, A S Andreev, and O A Boukhanovskaya Dependent behavior: clinic, dynamics, classification, treatment, prevention Manual for physicians Rostov-on-Don, 2002 Experts estimated that in Russia in the middle of this decade at least million people suffered from ludomania This estimation includes those who regularly use the “services” of “gambling” (slot machines, casinos, etc.) См.: «Подсевшие на игру Нехимические пристрастия (патологический азарт)» М.: Издательство Душепопечительского Православного Центра св прав Иоанна Кронштадтского, 2007; Ю.В.Попов, В.Д.Вид современная клиническая психиатрия М., 1997; А.О Буханевский, А.С Андреев, О.А Бухановская Зависимое поведение: клиника, динамика, систематика, лечение, профилактика Пособие для врачей Ростов на Дону, 2002 Специалисты оценивали, что в России в середине текущего десятилетия лудоманией страдало не менее млн человек Эта оценка включает тех, кто регулярно пользовался «услугами» «игрового бизнеса» (игровые автоматы, казино и т.п.) 669 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless stock market Of course, world usurers are interested in making the majority of people addicted to a specified disease: it increases the income of financial gambling machines owners (known as exchanges, banks, investment funds, financial markets, etc.).535 But the analysis of activities of regular casinos and slot machines shows that victims of ludomania are often the owners of these establishments.536 Obviously, world usurers also not have sufficient immunity to ludomania There are many examples of how financial oligarchs became victims of this disease As for the strategic objective of “initiated” usurers—the world domination—it cannot be crazy one We have previously said that “initiated” usurers themselves intend to rule the world In reality, they are cheated: the “prince of the world use them darkly.” They are only a means to clear the way for the antichrist According to the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, they are only the forerunners of the antichrist, or “small antichrists.” But as we said, the plan to achieve these “higher” goals is gradually being accomplished and sometime will be fully implemented But at the end of this plan there will be a complete collapse of all usurers and the devil, the “usurer of final instance” which stands behind him This was very clearly testified in the New Testament, especially the Revelation of St John (Apocalypse) For almost millenniums, the Holy Fathers spoke about this Even if you are not an expert in prophecies and have common sense and intuition, you can come out with the same conclusion It is enough to pay attention to the key feature of usurers: their ability to damage anything and everything Over the past decades, the anticreative ability of usurers became clearly visible to all: deindustrialization, devastating crises, falling financial pyramids, increasing poverty, an explosion of terrorism and ongoing wars, etc In case usurers really achieve their cherished goal—the world 535 See Chapter 15, “‘Money Revolution’: Creation of Securities and Stock Exchange,” section, “Gambling House Rather Than Economy ” 536 See, Hooked on the Game Non-chemical Addiction (pathological passion) M.: Publishing house of Soulkeeping Orthodox Center of Holy Orthodox Iogann Kronshtadtsky, 2007 См.: «Подсевшие на игру Нехимические пристрастия (патологический азарт)» М.: Издательство Душепопечительского Православного Центра св прав Иоанна Кронштадтского, 2007 ) 670 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) domination—the world will enter a phase of rapid destruction and collapse This opinion is shared by many sober-minded authors For example, our historian, Alexander Eliseev, writes: “Globalization, of course, took a serious run, but among its subjects there are strong contradictions But as soon as these contradictions will be resolved, as soon as globalists [according to the author, they are the owners of transnational corporations and banks, V K.] create their “world government,” global crisis will sweep these subjects (perhaps with “world civilization”) The victory of transnational structures will be their defeat [emphasis added, V K].”537 However, terms and dates of “the end of history” are unknown to us It all depends on us Not only on our understanding of the causes and driving forces of history, but also on our actions and deeds Including our ability to confront usurers, and the “usurer of final instance.” Confrontation, above all, involves development and implementation of a positive program for reorganisation of current monetary system The Application Article by A I Notin “Justicable interest” Justicable interest Orthodox View of the Global Financial System And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables (John 2:15) The revival of Christian thought in the last period, Christian debate about the most important issues of public life in Russia does not embrace financial and economic sphere There are several reasons 537 Eliseev, A 1937 Stalin vs Conspiracy of “Globalists.” M.: Jauza: Eksmo, 2009, 23 А Елисеев 1937 Сталин против заговора «глобалистов» М.: Яуза: Эксмо, 2009, с 23 671 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless for that This is a generally difficult state of national philosophical and theological school, which is just starting to rise from ruins after years of atheism and persecution of the church, and known methodological peripherality of “economic issues” in relation to other central issues of spiritual renewal and meaningful existence Finally, it is the objective complexity of the studied object—financial and economic model of the postmodern era, which not only dominates in the modern world (and since ’90s even in Russia), but also marks the highest and possibly the last phase of its almost 500 years of development By the present publication, the editorial staff of “The Sixth Sense” is trying to at least partially fill the gap At the same time, we would like to initiate a broad discussion on current economic issues The orthodox view, addressed primarily to God and to our own imperfections, must, however, have sufficient breadth, depth, and enlightenment, not to give in to any product by cloudless human minds, no matter how complex and clever they may be, and, finding out their very roots, to arrange an initial wormhole The patient is more dead than alive We all live in the ocean of finance and eat its plankton We are constantly engaged in cash and noncash transactions, willing or not—through advertising and media—consume financial information, daily make dozens of decisions related to money Not only a way of life, but many thoughts, dreams, and reveries of the third millennium man, one way or another, related to mammon From its initial state—a measure of value and means of payment—money in our mind turned into a measure of success, fame, and wealth long ago Not only prosperity! It is a measure of happiness “Pias-tres! Piastres!” calls the parrot of the one-legged leader of pirates from Treasure Island “Money, money, money!”—passionately echoes the ever-young group “ABBA.” It seems the whole world has gone mad Everywhere you turn around you see money Perhaps this comprehensive and all-consuming passionate dependence on the “golden calf” evokes a vague presentiment of impending financial collapse in us Everyone is worried Even those ) 672 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) who have a fairly weak (and often false) idea of ​​banks, stock exchanges, and funds, not to mention secret springs and levers managing credit and financial systems, crucial decision mechanisms affecting the fate of billions of people What shape and extent will the current crisis take? Local, minibank mistrust as in 1995; nationwide default as in 1991 and 1998, when millions of citizens lost their labor (and others) savings? Maybe it is time to get ready for something more serious? Over the past few years in comments and forecasts of financial analysts—both ours and Western—more alarming notes sound often: almost no one talks about the stability of the international financial system (IFS) Even its advocates prefer to carefully diagnose the signs of “overheating,” “vulnerability,” and “unpredictable” designs of IFS, weakening of its fundamental support represented by the U.S economy and the erosion of global dollar hegemony Critics and skeptics also point directly to the structural faults in the system and no real prospects (read: way out) from this dead end in which it finds itself these days To put it more simply, the collapse of IFS practically is not discussed The only question is, when it will happen Limit, threshold tension inside the global financial system becomes apparent in a few key moments The first is the rapid increase of massive world debt and money for its turnover The main “donor” here is the USA According to some data, the total debt of the U.S economy is about $50 trillion (compared to $5 trillion in 1957), that by parity of purchasing power is comparable to the GDP of the world—$60 trillion Particularly, the growth of the U.S debt in recent years is three times higher than the growth of the world GDP and it is worrying Figuratively speaking, the situation resembles the continuously growing tsunami somewhere in the center of the world’s ocean The wave rises, ready to overthrow the distant coast at any moment, sweeping away everything in its path The second point is that “the vast majority of new financial assets are devoid of any real provision It means none at all This is pure fiction; paper and even electronic records not give its 673 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless holders any guarantees Such a system cannot exist for long; its reliability is at the level of the Russian GKO pyramid of June 1998 In fact, the August (2007) liquidity crisis in European and American financial markets has demonstrated to the full failure ” The IFS real assets insecurity is not someone’s oversight which can be corrected, but rather the system congenital and vicious dependence on emission of new and new debt (not cash!) mass by commercial banks Today, they just have all population and all governments of the world by their throat (put on the needle—depends on what you like) That’s the point and the main focus of IFS “This idea—confesses the famous American financier R Hemfil—is shocking We are completely dependent on commercial banks Someone has to lend every dollar in circulation, cash or cashless If banks create much artificial money—we prosper; if not—we are dying of hunger We have no constant money When you see the whole tragic picture, you not want to believe in the hopelessness of the situation But it is so.” The third point is that ability of the USA to control and somehow compensate the expanding global “cash gap” formed by “separation” of debt money from their material base, to say the least, is highly exaggerated The fact is that the very high level of U.S consumption—about 40 percent of global GDP at twice smaller domestic production is covering the U.S financial system by release of the same new debt and printing of dollars Some are deeply mistaken in thinking that the whole thing is in a printing machine For your information: from the total turnover of money in the U.S economy, only percent is printed, and the rest is various symbolic debts not supported by anything; they arise in the process of crediting citizens, corporations, and banks It is clear that any containment of emission process or its radical reduction will hardly hit the purchasing power of U.S population Further, one by one, destabilization of prices in world markets, panic in stock markets and in banking sector, etc appear The fourth point is associated with a notable complication in recent years of the global military-political situation of the USA Stability of the world financial system since the creation of the U.S ) 674 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) FRS (1913) and the Bretton Woods agreements (1944) is based, to a great extent, on U.S military power, and since the ’70s of the last century on local military threats and U.S intervention; to look closely at the latter, always forestalled targeted crises in the system of global finance in time Today, the “cushioning” effect of this factor is melting in front of us Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans “lost face” as the world policeman, the world’s “Rambo.” As a consequence, unfriendly regional elites show increasing obstinacy and even think (!) of exiting the dollar zone The last striking example is Iran, whose leadership in December 2007 refused payments in dollars for oil supplied to foreign markets The fifth important point is objectively changing global configuration of power It is expressed in a gradual decrease of a monopoly in political and economic importance of the USA Before our eyes, strengthening not two, as was during the cold war, not one, as expected Washington after the Soviet collapse, but several world powers: the same United States, China, India, the United Europe, and, last but not least, the CIS, emerging from the restructuring of Russia with a natural sphere of influence The redrawing of the world map has just begun, but it is clear that new players with vast dependent markets, strong growth, and ambitions are unlikely to suffer a humiliating dependence on the decrepit and battered American “Akella.” The financial and economic model of the postwar world with its inherent centralism even in this not yet fully formed context looks like anachronism And finally, the sixth point It has, I would say, the transcendent nature and correlates with the growing (and infinitely diverse expressing itself) feeling of hopeless civilizational dead ends where all humanity found itself at the peak of its “achievements.” Not only global financial systems bulge at the seams, but along with it the market that produced them Uncontrolled conflicts, implicit and explicit local and global contradictions and imbalances multiply; they grow not on their own, but under the influence of scientific and technological progress, leading by the slave market and greedy warlords Evil multiplies; more and more forms of it exist (critical accumulation of weapons, power failure, international 675 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless terrorism, environmental crisis, and so on) The snake bites its own tail: the very life on earth is threatened Strictly speaking, how is it connected with crisis of IFS? Directly! The world is united, holistic and interdependent, even if someone does not like it The world financial system is a part of the whole On the one hand, it bears the imprint of the general degradation of existence, and on the other—in its current form, no doubt, is one of the causes of this degradation And in this sense, it is especially vulnerable The root of evil: greed and lack of morality What is next? Before we conclude our discussion, let us try to identify the source or, if you will, the prime cause of the current paradigm of IFS inferiority Although most complicated, mysterious by appearance, made​​ up of millions of parts, the world financial system has, strangely enough, a quite simple origin It is the borrowing rate Everything else: banks, stock exchanges, funds, financial, insurance and audit companies, management bodies, supervision and control—from local to multinational—is no more than a superstructure IFS design is similar to an exotic plant, grown from a small root, a small cell, but it preserves the algorithm of the original cell in each branch, leaves, and fruit Prepare (but please, impartial!) any chosen tool, any appearance of IFS in real life and you will find the same motivation of usury Decisive for birth and development of the system is the relationship of lender and borrower Remember this thought It is useful for us to evaluate spiritual and moral content of economic relations that underlie today’s market, but we will return to it a little later Here comes the question: What is wrong with the loan? The answer is: not the loan itself, but the specific form of the money transfer into interest growth, which, in the sixteenth century, crystallized from the depths of Italian usury, inheriting all its birthmarks and all its features; the main among them is facelessness In fact, when the medieval usurer or his direct descendant—a modern bank (the first bank in the world was established in England by Royal Decree ) 676 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) in 1696 as a direct result of nearly a century of usury evolution caused by the growth of trade, economic, and colonial expansion of Western Europe) gives a loan (debt in form of loan account), in fact, it is not interested about the purpose for which money is being taken The return “of the loan” and the interest is important, which is achieved by guarantee or collateral The specific purpose, that is, where and how the credit will be “brought back”—is secondary I foresee the experts’ objections: but banks are trying to track the fate of loan funds Formally it was so However, any practicing banker and businessman will confirm that the current system of financial control and monitoring is not in position not only to trace the course of money, but also to prevent anything, including their illegal use As they say, “sleight of hand and no skill.” Note that this is a completely legal thing, when an unscrupulous borrower nominally fulfills all requirements for the credit registration and repayment of credit To the outside world he is clear in terms of the law, and it is not failure; it is the norm of the current credit and financial system Not the exception but the rule And again, the more complex, large, multitiered becomes a global financial pyramid (with its offshore companies, experts in tax optimization and shadow financial services markets) when large amounts of money, especially virtual (debt) and criminal “injected” into circulation, the darker and more faceless becomes the impersonal gap between the availability of financial resources and the final consumer Is not it an analogy to the expanding “hole” and the aforementioned “cash gap”—the product and possible gravedigger of IFS? Factor of “impersonality” directs us to another unstudied aspect of money circulation: personal liability of the usurer for an act committed by him No, no! This is not the responsibility toward the normal law: this aspect has already been discussed The law itself is faceless and indifferent Another matter is an invisible spiritual realm Let us assume that I place my money in a bank deposit or other financial instruments—stocks, bonds, etc Obviously, while crediting the financial system I somehow dissolve my deposit in it, lose control of it, and can no longer guarantee that money will 677 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless be applied properly (that could be achieved, of course, only by personal commitment and control) As part of this operation it is simply unrealistic Upon receiving an interest income from the operation, formally it was enough for me to pay the appropriate taxes to fulfill the requirements of law (the bank will keep its margin (profit) and probably will settle up with the state) Externally, everything is good and legal However, if I transfer these relationship into a different, internal plan, I should realize that I bear joint and moral fault with the end borrower; if money is taken by him—even through the tenth hand, even a small sum—my money is being used criminally What if my own penny “took part” in the investment of a war, terrorism, drug traffic, trade in people, another unjust case, which our falling world is filled up with? Should I, as a spiritual man, consider this (indirect) responsibility as direct one, and at least confess my involuntarily committed sins? What should I next in terms of my Orthodox faith, Orthodox ethics, and morality? These issues could remain a private affair of the spiritual minority if—in a closer look—the root to the answer to the more significant problem of crisis and degradation of IFS was not hidden there Indeed, could the system based on indifference to the quality of debt service be viable? What to if the leitmotif of relations in this system is indifference and even ruthlessness to the fate of the borrower? This approach is in direct contradiction to the commandments of Christ Moreover, it is contrary to the Old Testament value model, which strongly condemned usury for a thousand years before the notorious sixteenth century God, condemning Jerusalem, warns the city (from the prophet Ezekiel): “ they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will it I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you” (Ezekiel 22:12–15) ) 678 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) Usurers were a socially despised caste; traditional guild production in Europe for centuries, they lived well without borrowing, and they only did so in cases of extreme need or in trade transactions; they used the borrowing rate as some kind of insurance fee There are several theories about the question why only in the sixteenth century the taboo on usury was removed Something helped money changers and usurers to move out of the shadows and quickly spread their offices in the Old World, marking the beginning of not only world-famous banking houses, but also the beginning of global banking and the financial system, to which, nowadays, the word “usury” is not accepted Some previously mentioned reasons, for example, were crop failure and devaluation of European gold as a result of New World development by Spanish conquistadors That is an external, or material, plan If we start from the primacy of spiritual over material, then the real cause of the sudden rise of usury should be searched more deeply It ran back to the era of Reformation, and even higher—to split the once single Christian church into orthodox and heterodox (Catholicism and Protestantism in their current form) In the initial theses of Luther, a prohibition on usury was still present, but later by inclusion of gold reserves of Catholic monasteries in usurious turnover it was forgotten Moving far and far away from the truth of the gospel (“The Kingdom of God is within you”), immersing in daily affairs with their “affliction, wrath and needs,” West European canonical clergy began to canonically reason and thus encourage commercialism and entrepreneurship as “certainly pleasing to God.” Interest had received indulgence, but nothing in its original nature has changed These days, when this godless—in its roots and essence—banking has grown and reached the threshold of self-destruction, the debate on causes of structural IFS crisis gets quite practical and highly relevant However, is it possible to cure wood not understanding the illness and what is wrong with its roots? An incorrect diagnosis threatens by escalating the disease in a chronic phase and even threatens with death It is clear As clear as the attempts to improve IFS by replacing the “old” paradigm based on the lending rate by a 679 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless new one (which, however, is not quite clear, but the debate on this topic has already arisen) may be deliberately botched If the cause of fundamental nonviability of the global financial system is still in the sphere of spiritual compromise, and so it seems, no other attempts of the human mind, no matter how logical and scientifically valid they may be, will provide any result At the best, it will merely delay the fatal outcome for a short time We should not forget the serious findings of economists, that at this level “soft” scenario of FS reform (break in issuing new debt and gradual “blow away of the bubble”) and “hard” forced options in the form of debt dumping and massive defaults, they are equally unacceptable The first is actually impracticable as we previously discussed; the second can result in serious and unpredictable consequences for the whole world However, this second option can occur by itself, against the will of people More frequent “tectonic” fluctuations in world stock exchanges, financial scandals like the “Enron” case, and galloping prices for oil remind us about it constantly Lies, greed, and lack of ethics are critical causes of the IFS tragedy Lies at this point are “pumping” of trust and reputation of many so-called respected corporations achieved by criminal manipulation of their balance sheets and the deception of millions of depositors (the “Enron” case) Greed is seen everywhere in the pursuit of capital to profit at any cost The absence of morality at the base and in the current design of IFS makes many honest thinkers and financiers talk about it as a “disguised form of economic slavery”— a far more complex and brutal form than medieval slavery L N Tolstoy, in particular, wrote that money as a new form of slavery is different from previous forms by the fact that in the modern world human relationships between master and slave are absent What comes next? Being on the verge of a crisis, we cannot help trying to figure out whether there is a more or less acceptable way out of this situation What is it made ​​of? Obviously—and it was partly mentioned earlier—that urgent reforms of IFS will be subject to several imperatives arising from its nature (“conceived lawless and born in ) 680 Conclusion About Genius and Madness of the World Usurers ) vice”) and its current obvious “ripeness.” These imperatives are: firstly, it is impossible to perfect, to improve IFS without radical revision of its moral basis; secondly, inaccessibility of local transformation of the system, for example, only in the USA or in the Western world The reform of IFS should be global; thirdly, a clear need of “package” linkage of a new approach to the global financial system with deep and morally justifiable transformations in other spheres of life of modern man The disease is too deep and dangerous to treat it with “embrocations.” Radical surgical intervention is needed What about the inability of local improvements? A clear demonstration of this is the “Islamic banking,” based not on impersonal loan interest, but on attempts to make the bank an investment partner of the borrower, where instead of payment for credit they charge participating interest in a funded business not prohibited by the Koran In the early ’90s I worked, on probation, for a few months in one of these banks in Egypt My impression was not simple On the one hand, of course, the real rejection of usurious loans is achieved On the other hand, every Islamic bank has to increase significantly the operating costs for maintenance of the irregular shape of customer relationship (personnel, equipment, documentation, etc.), which drastically reduces its competitiveness in comparison with “normal” commercial banks As a consequence, in a free market regime, these banks cannot survive and keep up only because of the political will of the ruling Islamic circles that compensate their losses by oil revenues Without this support, the Islamic banks would have “disappeared” in the IFS just as a lump of sugar dissolves in a glass of water But we have to admit that the experience of Islamic banks is valuable because it points the way to break the dead end, make a precedent of spiritual and moral correction of global finance, allows experimentally (and not just on paper) to turn the conversation into foreground accounting of moral factors The world of modern finances, as well as all other products doped by the pride of the mind, is, by an accurate expression of Gamaliel, “of human origin, 681 ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless it will fail (Acts 5:35–39) “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed” (Psalm 126:1) Yes, this labor is vain: all that is created by hand or human thought without the blessing of the Creator will fall and be destroyed, and all that has His seal will stand for centuries Understanding of the meaning of the latter should permeate all subsequent discussions on how to overcome the IFS crisis if we want to get closer to the truth But that is the topic of our next conversation The Sixth Sense magazine, 2008 (No 1) ) 682 ... ownership and/ or legal right to publish all the materials in this book Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless The Money Civilization and the Present- Day Crisis All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2015 Valentin. .. Introduction ) the loan interest is possible to call not only as a justiciable interest but also reckless interest. ” Let’s try to understand why the loan interest is reckless (certainly, the speech... many others ) ) Interest: Loan, Justiciable, Reckless The study of the money civilization history is necessary to get the hang of the simple and necessary truth: overcoming of economical and