Usury
Usury (from the Medieval Latin usuria, "interest" or "excessive interest", from Latin usura "interest") was defined originally as charging a fee for the use of money. This usually meant interest on loans, although charging a fee for changing money (as at a bureau de change) is included in the original meaning. After moderate-interest loans were made more easily available usury became an accepted part of the business world in the early modern age. Today, the word has come to refer to the charging of unreasonable or relatively high rates of interest.
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Quotes
When once the usurer has obtained complete control of monetary creation, the interest mechanism has achieved its purpose, and could the be given up. When the usurer lent the original gold coinage, he created a debt claim and appropriated the interest. When, however, he began to create and lend money, he appropriated both interest and capital. Thus the usurer's (i.e. banker's) wealth and power finally derive from this credit creation, wherein, as Major Douglas puts it, "power comes not from charging interest but in creating new claims and appropriating them."
- - Human Ecology p127
Human Ecology
A nice description about Usury is on page 84. The O.E.D gives the following definition;
- The fact or practice of lending money at interest; esp. in later use, the practise of charging, taking, or contracting to receive excessive or illegal rates of interest for money on loan.
Bears Stearn takeover
Economics commentators
Companies involved in Credit crunch
- Absolute Capital (Australian)
- Basis Capital (Australian)
- Northern Rock (British)
- Bear Stearns (American)
- Macquarie Bank (Australian)
- New Century Financial (American)
- Carlyle Group *Wikipedia
- UBS (Swiss)
- Deutsche Bank AG (German)
- ANZ bank (Australia/New Zealand)
- ING investments (Australia/New Zealand)
- Tower (Australia/New Zealand)
FBI probe widens to 17 firms
Among companies implicated in FBI mortgage probes are Beazer Homes and Doral Financial. The largest US mortgage lender, Countrywide, is also under FBI investigation, authorities have said.
