(Due to the recent changes here at NorCal Blogs, I have had to re-post this essay from May.)
I have been going over some ancient Judaic texts lately. Specifically, the first five books of the Bible, known collectively as The Pentateuch, or Torah.
Some people believe these books to be the absolute word of God.
I am not one of them.
These books contain--along with an early history of the Jews--613 commandments, or mitzvot which describe how the ancients were to live every aspect of their lives.
I got this list from Wiki.
(I suppose the most famous mitzvot--other than the Ten Commandments--is Leviticus 18:22. That's the one that "Christians" use to condemn homosexuality; the subject of a future essay.)
Some make a lot of sense when you get right down to it.
Some examples:
Anybody who knows evidence must testify in court.
Judges must not accept bribes.
Testimony is not to be taken from a single witness.
Judges must not accept testimony unless both parties are present.
All soldiers should have a shovel.
Latrines should be dug outside of the camp.
Don't overwork your slave.
Consider the rules of Kashrut, or 'keeping kosher.' Most of them are common-sense rules about cleanliness. Good thing, the USDA wasn't around thirty-five centuries ago.
Even the rite of circumcision on the eighth day is based on common sense. Blood did not clot reliably before a child was eight days old.
One of the more interesting mitzvot says not to charge interest of your countrymen. (Deuteronomy 23:20)
This makes, perhaps, the most sense of all.
I have written in this space that I am no economist. However, I do know a few things about money.
Think about this for a moment.
What is the "value" of interest?
How much concrete is poured; how many nails are driven by the money spent on interest?
Conversely, how much money isn't spent on real products because it has to go for interest if enough money isn't printed to cover the price of the interest? (What happens to inflation when enough money is printed to cover interest?) How many people are working simply to pay interest?
With no absolute value to it, interest will eventually destroy an economy.
The ancients knew that 3,500 years ago.
We are discovering that right now.
Maybe we should have listened to them . . . . . . .

I am not suggesting that we could run a worldwide economy without charging people interest. But, until the 1920s, America was pretty much a cash-and-carry society.
Why?
Christian values were part of it! Usury--interest--was a sin!

Of course, in 1913, congress violated the Constitution and created the Federal Reserve. The resulting need for more money for the bankers created a massive PR drive to borrow, borrow, borrow! To indebt yourself to the bank. To indebt your children to the bank.
For years, California had the nation's lowest interest rates--12%. When I first started voting in the 70s, every damned election, there was a proposition to end California's "antiquated" laws regarding usury. It finally passed, of course. Why people voted to short themselves was beyond me then, but I see it often enough now. After all, by not calling for an end to the Federal Reserve, we still short ourselves.

For centuries, interest has led to the downfall of civilizations.
The Federal Reserve system is leading to the downfall of the United States.
It is time we took that threat seriously.