The most hated sort, and with greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest1. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.
- Aristotle Politics Book I Chapter 11
Having established a rough basis to speak about communities, I think it is time to speak about one of the most pernicious errors of modern thought.
The idea that money should beget money, all on its own.
That it is fecund.
Alive.
And moves with that Invisible Hand of the Free Market.
You see, the idea is anathema to the Ancients and Medievals, who saw money primarily as a means of exchange, that could be counted, with the least important attribute being a store of wealth.
Because, you see…
They understood that entropy affects everything.
That even coins, in circulation, loose weight as they clink together.
That to store coins requires a cost - land to store them, a home, guards, and possible theft leading to complete loss. That even burying them randomly in a field may entail loosing track of them, needed ownership of the field, etc.
Thus, the idea that you could even charge a flat rate, for something constantly draining your resources unless you put labor and/or more capital in, is against nature.
If my wife loans you a nice set of chinaware for 10 people for a fancy guest dinner, would it be natural for me to expect plates for an 11th to be returned as well?2
Why not?
It’s not interest, it’s a flat expectation.
Why is money different?
After all, I could exchange the plates for their value in money.
How much more unnatural is the idea that money should continually be fecund - continually reproduce - under the modern idea of interest?
Even things that are naturally fecund, and have even been used as money, such as cows, sheep, and pigs, are subject to entropy. Just ask any breeder how much effort they have to put in to keep them alive, healthy, bloodlines from not being incestuous, from degrading due to neglect in breeding, or the difference between, say a farm pig and a feral pig that escaped 3 generations ago.
Entropy matters, even there.
So, we must try not to be voracious, greedy thugs.
Squeezing blood money from the bones of our neighbors,
As we try to build communities.
For we should recall that we were all young in this Empire of Usury, Sodomy, Sex, and Abortion (USSA) when we first were 16.
We courted Libertas, that whore.
And, heartbroken, we are where we are.
Let us not propagate more suffering as we form new communities.
Stop being usurious.
What share insolence and avarice have in creating revolutions, and how they work, is plain enough. When the magistrates are insolent and grasping they conspire against one another and also against the constitution from which they derive their power, making their gains either at the expense of the individuals or of the public.
- Aristotle Politics Book V Chapter 3
Interest - The original Greek simply means ‘offspring,’ and does not imply a growing rate. Thus, a flat fee upon the original loan would fit the original definition of interest and usurious loan to Aristotle, who sees gold money as a sterile, and not fecund, object.
Graeber in Debt: The First 5,000 years relates a similar anecdote from Greek times involving pots or clay vessels. I honestly don’t recall which, and, sadly, it was an audiobook I no longer have access to.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your overall point but at least in my culture, if you borrow a set of plates from someone then you are expected to return them with a small gift, usually some special foods made for this purpose. It is an important distinction that you cannot demand the gift from anyone or dictate the size as a lender, but as a lendee you will be subject to social judgement for either making it too small or even too large. That is a form of non-monetary usury and in fact it clearly adds value by increasing social cohesion and several things that are more implicit than that.
Perhaps there needs to be an evaluation of which kind of usury is an attempt to bleed someone else’s wealth and which kind is just charging someone for genuine value added by your service, whether tangible or intangible.