Inequality Killed the Roman Republic

Re:Inequality Killed the Roman Republic by recursivedoubts on Monday January 18, 2021 @10:10AM (#25822479)

And, as with today, usury was the underlying cause of the inequality. The early church was anti-usury for very good and practical reasons and, now that it has abandoned that position in a practical sense, we once again see the huge concentration of wealth that it causes.

This should be a cause around which both progressives and populists could coalesce, which I suspect is one reason it is ignored or mocked.

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Re:Inequality Killed the Roman Republic by missedthecue on Monday January 18, 2021 @10:33AM (#25822689)

Inequality today isn't caused by usury. Jeff Bezos didn't get rich by charging widows 300% apr loans. He got rich by lowering prices so low, and saving consumers so much, that the federal reserve literally blamed him for stunting inflation.

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Re:Inequality Killed the Roman Republic by adwn on Monday January 18, 2021 @10:35AM (#25822709)

> And, as with today, usury was the underlying cause of the inequality.

Do you mean "usury" as in "lending money at interest"? I really don't see how that's the underlying cause of inequality. Very, very few (if any?) of today's financial elite became rich due to interest payments.

Any even if it were true: Good news, because interest rates are at a long-time low!

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