No Socialism Here. Only Simple Justice.

Pope Pius XI in 1931 warned of International Finance, the grave dangers of ‘economic domination’ accumulated in the hands of the few

He warned in Quadragesimo Anno of the dangers of international finance controlling credit, crushing competition and families. And this message flows directly and seamlessly from the teachings of Christ who came also to liberate the poor. It should go without saying that neither Jew or Gentile, or any race / ethnicity or religion, has a special claim to evil and greed in history:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties– but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

The Holy Father wrote,

“Accordingly, when directing Our special attention to the changes which the capitalist economic system has undergone since Leo’s time, We have in mind the good not only of those who dwell in regions given over to “capital” and industry, but of all mankind.

Despotic Economic Dictatorship

“In the first place, it is obvious that not only is wealth concentrated in our times but an immense power and despotic economic dictatorship is consolidated in the hands of a few, who often are not owners but only the trustees and managing directors of invested funds which they administer according to their own arbitrary will and pleasure.

“This dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of money. Hence they regulate the flow, so to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will.

“This concentration of power and might, the characteristic mark, as it were, of contemporary economic life, is the fruit that the unlimited freedom of struggle among competitors has of its own nature produced, and which lets only the strongest survive; and this is often the same as saying, those who fight the most violently, those who give least heed to their conscience.

“This accumulation of might and of power generates in turn three kinds of conflict. First, there is the struggle for economic supremacy itself; then there is the bitter fight to gain supremacy over the State in order to use in economic struggles its resources and authority; finally there is conflict between States themselves, not only because countries employ their power and shape their policies to promote every economic advantage of their citizens, but also because they seek to decide political controversies that arise among nations through the use of their economic supremacy and strength.

Cruel, Shameful Internationalism of Finance

“The ultimate consequences of the individualist spirit in economic life are those which you yourselves, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children, see and deplore: Free competition has destroyed itself; economic dictatorship has supplanted the free market; unbridled ambition for power has likewise succeeded greed for gain; all economic life has become tragically hard, inexorable, and cruel. To these are to be added the grave evils that have resulted from an intermingling and shameful confusion of the functions and duties of public authority with those of the economic sphere – such as, one of the worst, the virtual degradation of the majesty of the State, which although it ought to sit on high like a queen and supreme arbitress, free from all partiality and intent upon the one common good and justice, is become a slave, surrendered and delivered to the passions and greed of men. And as to international relations, two different streams have issued from the one fountain-head: On the one hand, economic nationalism or even economic imperialism; on the other, a no less deadly and accursed internationalism of finance or international imperialism whose country is where profit is…

“Strict and watchful moral restraint enforced vigorously by governmental authority could have banished these enormous evils and even forestalled them; this restraint, however, has too often been sadly lacking. For since the seeds of a new form of economy were bursting forth just when the principles of rationalism had been implanted and rooted in many minds, there quickly developed a body of economic teaching far removed from the true moral law, and, as a result, completely free rein was given to human passions.

Crushing So Many

“Thus it came to pass that many, much more than ever before, were solely concerned with increasing their wealth by any means whatsoever, and that in seeking their own selfish interests before everything else they had no conscience about committing even the gravest of crimes against others. Those first entering upon this broad way that leads to destruction easily found numerous imitators of their iniquity by the example of their manifest success, by their insolent display of wealth, by their ridiculing the conscience of others, who, as they said, were troubled by silly scruples, or lastly by crushing more conscientious competitors.

“…With the rulers of economic life abandoning the right road, it was easy for the rank and file of workers everywhere to rush headlong also into the same chasm; and all the more so, because very many managements treated their workers like mere tools, with no concern at all for their souls, without indeed even the least thought of spiritual things.

Labor Become An Instrument of Perversion

“Truly the mind shudders at the thought of the grave dangers to which the morals of workers (particularly younger workers) and the modesty of girls and women are exposed in modern factories; when we recall how often the present economic scheme, and particularly the shameful housing conditions, create obstacles to the family bond and normal family life; when we remember how many obstacles are put in the way of the proper observance of Sundays and Holy Days; and when we reflect upon the universal weakening of that truly Christian sense through which even rude and unlettered men were wont to value higher things, and upon its substitution by the single preoccupation of getting in any way whatsoever one’s daily bread. And thus bodily labor, which Divine Providence decreed to be performed, even after original sin, for the good at once of man’s body and soul, is being everywhere changed into an instrument of perversion; for dead matter comes forth from the factory ennobled, while men there are corrupted and degraded”. — Quadragesimo Anno #’s 105-109, 133-135

And the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7

“To simplify, the inequity of the world’s banking system is the fact that the money borrowed from a bank is created out of nothing. On the other hand, the borrower must actually produce real goods and services to earn money to pay back the loan plus interest.

“When bankers create money faster than the economy grows, the purchasing power of the dollar declines which is known as inflation. The majority of the population is competing like wild animals during a famine to earn enough money to pay their debts and feed their families.

“A thirty-year-debt-slave is someone that has a home mortgage. First, the debtor is borrowing money that was created out of nothing through fractional reserve lending.

Second, after years of making payments, the debtor may become injured or unemployed. The bank will then foreclose and sell the house. The bank will keep the proceeds of the sale and all the principal and interest that the borrower paid prior to going into default. Therefore, the borrower, who normally puts down only 20 percent (or much less) of the purchase price, bears almost 100% percent of the risk despite the fact that the bank decided to loan the other 80% (or more).

Third, the cost of a home loan is approximately double the amount borrowed when thirty years of interest payments are included. For example, if a borrower with good credit buys a $300,000 house and puts down 20 percent ($60,000), the borrower will borrow $240,000 from the bankers. The interest on a $240,000 loan at 5% (a historically low interest rate) over thirty years is $223,813.88. Therefore, the total cost of the $300,000 home is actually $463,813.88 (not including property taxes and insurance). Run the numbers yourself.

Credit Card Usury

Those who do not pay off their credit cards each month are slaves to usury. The average Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for a credit card in the United States is 14.95%. Credit cards with APRs above 20% are common.

In California, the Attorney General admits that limits on usury applicable to individuals making loans “do not apply to most lending institutions such as banks, credit unions, finance companies, pawn brokers, etc.” —ActivistPost.com

— Merger Corporate Capitalism. How a Reagan Administration Trick is Destroying America (A Matt Stoller Video)

— Towards a Critique of E. Michael Jones