James Hughes writes, "Are the Cantos not, from their first verse-paragraph
until their final fragment, a bitter condemnation of Capitalist Usura? Did
Ezra Loomis not find in Western society and economic policy a concrete
illustration of the wider world's ills?"

    I think there can be no question that this is the case for anyone who
has read  the Cantos with any degree of understanding. Only on the Basis of
Canto XLV alone would one come to this conclusion. And who on this List has
ever defended or wishes now to defend usury? I don't think they want to
break this silence anymore than they wish to defend Victor Sassoon's
Shanghai opium profits. Anyone have an eye on what's happening in Shanghai
these days before the coming elections?

    "with usura
     seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and his concubines"

How vibrant his words still ring.

CDM