Usury? Alive and well in Cleveland.
Bill Moyers:
What were you thinking as you saw that report from Cleveland? [The segment preceding this interview with Greider covered exorbitant lending practices in Cleveland].
Bill Greider:
Made me angry all over again, even though I know the story. And then I thought, “This is usury.” This is a living example of what the Bible prohibited, which is the sin of usury. Most Americans have never heard of it probably.
Moyers:
Usury?
Greider:
Usury, to be clear about it, is rich people taking advantage of poor people by lending them money on terms that are sure to make them fail. All three of the great religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, had a moral prohibition against usury because they recognized that society can’t function like that. People of great wealth and their institutions like banks naturally have the power to overwhelm people of lesser means. And you can’t allow that in a decent society. It won’t survive.
Nightmare on Wall Street: Washington Can’t Bail out the Sea of Red Ink
