Prabhu Guptara: Conflicts of Interest
Professor Prabhu Guptara is Executive Director, Organisation Development, of Wolfsberg - the Platform for Executive and Business Development (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS), in Switzerland.Prabhu Guptara talks about how the charging of interest exacerbates the difference between the rich and poor. The technical term for this is usury – usually understood to mean the charging of excessive rates of interest by loan sharks. Traditionally, however, the term meant the lending of money at any rate of interest, high or low. The practice was forbidden by most major religions and by many societies and cultures throughout history and with good reason, Guptara says. It widens the wealth gap, encourages growth without regard for environmental consequences and creates a culture of short term investor commitment.
You could of course ask the question, If it's so bad how come people haven't spotted this? Well, actually, people did spot it. People spotted it a very long time ago. And in every traditional society usury was forbidden. It was forbidden in the Bible. It was forbidden in the Koran. It was forbidden in the Indian scriptures. It was forbidden among the Chinese. It was forbidden among the Japanese. It was forbidden in Greek society, in Roman society. Among the Red Indians or Native Americans. Every traditional society forbade usury.Video interview recorded in February 2005 by Big Picture TV.
[Offers a clear, concise and logical breakdown of the injustice that is inherent in the system of usury/interest. Well worth watching. - jc]
posted by yusuf chun @ Tuesday, March 14, 2006
14 Comments:
I agree with anyone who is against usury. But the problem after the demise of usury will logically be "profit" motive, especially by private ownership of property and the means of production in private hands, that is, capitalism.
aquino, the profit motive must be eliminated in the realm of essential resources, and public utilities/ services. That would solve the gouging problems we currently suffer from.
Also, patents would have to be eliminated to avoid monopolies of useful technologies.
Nonprofit healthcare minus usury, plus pharmaceuticals without patents could solve most of our healthcare problems immediately.
JC, this is an outstanding catch! Many thanks! It confirms what I said about interest in the difference between lending at interest and equity investing.
thx, q
seems there's a ball rolling here. good prospects i hope.
Another thing I find very interesting about this video clip is his attribution of the ascendance of unfettered usury to the emergence of darwinism.
Fascinating.
yes, i think what he means is "modernism" ie. darwin, marx, the enlightenment.
the idea dostoevsky refuted in "crime and punishment," "the devils" and "the brothers karamazov": "nothing is true. everything is permitted."
or as crowley had it: "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."
and a few quotes from one of the best exegetes of doestoevsky, kierkegaard and nietzsche, camus:
I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.
[he could think]
some more from camus:
The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism.
The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.
The society based on production is only productive, not creative.
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.
The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude.
Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.
I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.
Actually the Crowley quote is "do as you will and harm no other" then ending gets forgotten conveniently.
Hey Guys,
"..yes, i think what he means is "modernism" ie. darwin, marx, the enlightenment."
You missed, Elizabeth R, Rothschild, Adam Smith, The East India co., etc.
"What profit a man who gain's the world but looses his soul?"
hey mal,
according to my sources the quote is comlplete as such in the *liber al,* there seems to be no extension of it.
where's yours from? haven't heard it before.
Guptara is right, but he's (unnecessarily?) putting himself in harm's way. History should teach us that any one person that confronts the status quo alone can and will be silenced, if necessary. Alfred von Herrhausen comes to mind here...
We need a movement, redundance, a hydra with too many heads to cut off. Grassroots campaigning, so that anyone will be able to come to the right conclusions in case people like Guptara are offed, or "coincidentally" off themselves. Louis Even's concise, simple, easily understandable fairytale is probably one of the most powerful means of education at our disposal, just because it elegantly exposes the whole financial "magic" people are not supposed to understand by cutting right to its core.
In that context, I found this article quite interesting - it deplores the utterly selective economic research that's being financed these days - by none other than the Fed. It all ties in.
Only the proposition of reestablishing a gold standard seems questionable with most of this world's gold in the hands of the IMF, but I believe I'm preaching to the choir here.
Aquino, yes. There is no profit in losing one's soul. The British East India company was terrible.
jc, I interpreted the significance of darwinism as leading to the downfall of religion and all the principles that came with it.
Lumos, brilliant comments. Louis Evans' piece was THE eye opener for me, and continues to be the single most powerful demystifier of the colossal scam that is the our monetary system.
I agree that Guptara has put himself at risk. But, I would not characterize it as unnecessary. It's the courageous sacrifices that people make that ultimately lead to revolution.
Nonetheless, I agree with you 100% that lone rangers like Guptara are NOT enough. It will take persistent and thoughtful efforts on the part of hundreds of thousands of low-profile individuals like ourselves to effectively break through the madness that consumes us. But, again a few high-profile individuals are key.
And yes, gold is just another monopoly and a continuation of the commodity system of money. It will end with the same result.
For the record, I want to say that I have an outright problem with runaway and uncontrolled interest, and mixed feelings about interest as a whole.
The fact remains that the allowance of interest to be charged also coincided with the Industrial Revolution. There is a good argument to be made that this is not mere correlation, but it is also causation.
Do I think the tax code needs to be radically changed? Yes. Essentially, there are all sorts of tax ramifications for NOT charging interest. (so interest is paid somewhere - if nowhere else, than to the US government)
I have a problem with this. A big problem. Assuming interest is allowed, the charging or not charging of interest should be voluntary and regulated at low rates, not forced by the US government.
QRS,
Something to note. I think the mention of Darwinism was really something referencing something Darwin never espoused, namely, "Social Darwinism."
Darwin's theory simply deals with the broad outlining of how everything on earth has evolved from a lesser being, including humans. He did not go on to say one culture or nation is better than another.
However, many people in the West twisted Darwin's teaching to include the theory of "Social Darwinism," or the theory that some cultures are simply BETTER than others and are more dominant because of "natural selection."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_darwinism
This theory justifies social and economic inequality and has little to nothing to do with evolution or Darwinism.
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