With usura hath no man a house of good stone each block cut smooth and well fitting that design might cover their face, with usura hath no man a painted paradise on his church wall harpes et luz or where virgin receiveth message and halo projects from incision, with usura seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and his concubines no picture is made to endure nor to live with but it is made to sell and sell quickly with usura, sin against nature, is thy bread ever more of stale rags is thy bread dry as paper, with no mountain wheat, no strong flour with usura the line grows thick with usura is no clear demarcation and no man can find site for his dwelling. Stonecutter is kept from his stone weaver is kept from his loom - Ezra Pound Canto XLV (With Usura)
Programming note - my apologies for the lull. Septic issues, dog chewing through fiber optic cable, and some legal troubles pulled me away temporarily. The beast found me. I escaped, with my life!
So, we’ve examined all the manifestations of Usury. The quick primer is that Usury is any making of money on the loaning of money itself, even if those are not interest based. And, that it is morally acceptable to make money in ways other than on the loan. Though it is, of course, possible still to be immoral and predatory in that area too.
Now, for the part that I started the whole series to get to - some of the consequences of Usury upon society.
The first, and most wide ranging, is the utter need to feed the growing beast.
You see, the need to always make something fertile that isn’t, to make something from nothing, means that you have to always be looking for ways to extract money where one ought not to.
The first place that this occurs is a strenuous push for increased productivity from the labor force. More labor laws, breaking down union power, ignoring laws that would hurt capital and companies; anything that can help you push forward to that next plateau. Make men machines, break down families, make work dumb, so that dumb people can work, and then dumb the labor force down so they’re compliant. Bonus if you can get them on the Student Loan through lies and extortion, and then still flip burgers anyways.
But, we need those higher margins to pay off the debts! And we need ever higher debts for higher GDPs or bankruptcy for everyone! Everyone that matters!
The second is through a break down in quality. This is where capitalism and consumerism aid usury. The usurious beast promises more wealth, so it needs more blood. To get more blood, we need to feed it lead painted toys from China. Cars from Japan. Made in Mexico. Or Taiwan. Or anywhere but the U.S. unless you can’t afford it on a middle class income supporting a family on a single income. Friend-shoring instead of re-shoring, because we still can’t kick usury.
But, we need those higher margins to pay off the debts! And we need ever higher debts for higher GDPs or bankruptcy for everyone! Everyone that matters!
The third is the beginning to reach to commoditize things that shouldn’t be sold. Clean Water. Friendship. Love. Your privacy. Your information. Google trawling your search history and selling it. Your emails. If you don’t pay for the product, you are the product. That type of thing. And, finding these untapped, unsold goods, they made billions. They found a new product, a new revenue untouched by usury, and incorporated it into the usurious fold! But, sadly, now it’s just scratching out that meagre couple percent…
But, we need those higher margins to pay off the debts! And we need ever higher debts for higher GDPs or bankruptcy for everyone! Everyone that matters!
So, we come to the fourth round in economic feeding of the usury beast! AI will save us all, won’t it!? Well… No, no it won’t, as
says in AI Needs to Feed on Fresh Meat, Or It Dies. Because, it too, seems to be trying to make something from what it consumes. LLM’s consume what they learn from in the learning, in order to create. If only LLM’s create, than they’re only consuming LLM waste - their manure, their crap, their shit - to be vulgar about it. This will prove true of all AI tasking for jobs, as logically AI learning from itself will learn false things for false reasons, in the same way that the LLMs do. Thus, the usurious beast of our economy needs human sacrifice to survive.Artificial Sacrifice simply won’t do.
Mammon rejects such offers.
If you want money to give you something, you do actually have to give something up, every time.
The blood simply doesn’t have to be your own…
Should you be willing to part with your soul.
WITH USURA wool comes not to market sheep bringeth no gain with usura Usura is a murrain, usura blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning. Pietro Lombardo came not by usura Duccio came not by usura nor Pier della Francesca; Zuan Bellin’ not by usura nor was ‘La Calunnia’ painted. Came not by usura Angelico; came not Ambrogio Praedis, Came no church of cut stone signed: Adamo me fecit. Not by usura St. Trophime Not by usura Saint Hilaire, Usura rusteth the chisel It rusteth the craft and the craftsman It gnaweth the thread in the loom None learneth to weave gold in her pattern; Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi is unbroidered Emerald findeth no Memling Usura slayeth the child in the womb It stayeth the young man’s courting It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth between the young bride and her bridegroom CONTRA NATURAM They have brought whores for Eleusis Corpses are set to banquet at behest of usura. - Ezra Pound Canto XLV (With Usura)