"John K. Taber" wrote:

> I'm certainly no economist. My understanding of Pound's "usury"
> is interest in any form, à la the Medieval Church. My reading
> of Pound is that *all* interest is evil.
>
> --
> John K. Taber
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: - Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of charles moyer
> Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 9:04 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: a sense of humor
>
>         Wei writes,  ":)" ( I don't think I got the ears on straight).
>     I am LOL because that looks just like the old man on the cover of my
> Tao te ching.
>     But wasn't Pound aiming at a more equitable distribution of wealth
> by attacking usury? Or was he misguided in this crusade? And shouldn't we
> have acknowledged his distinction between usury and interest not being the
>
> same thing? I am not an economist. Someone please help me.
>     " the way never acts, but nothing is left undone"

In principle, usury is any interest at all. But it is impossible for a
market
(even the limited markets of pre-capitalist modes of production) to exist
without a system of financing it, which is impossible without in practice
allowing interest to be charged. I used to know some of the more complex
dodges practiced in Christian and Islamic cultures but don't remember any
now.In actual usage, the word "usury" does come to mean "excessive
interest," but that is an entirely flexible concept. One of the Italian
banks
Pound praises charged 5% I believe. Luther has some fascinating passages
on usury utilizing almost the entire lexicon of obscenities at his command.

The key, insofar as there is one, to the "history" of attitudes toward
interest
is the fact that  landowners (even extremely wealthy ones) are apt to be
extremely cash poor. Ditto military powers (pre-capitalist). Ditto royalty
and their hangers-on. (Before the Bank of England there was no national
debt in the modern sense. War debts were personal debts of the
sovereign.) Ditto I presume the Chinese gentry.

Carrol