“There was a rich man who dressed in… fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. Lying at his door was a poor man, Lazarus, covered with sores… dogs even used to come and lick his sores. The poor man died, and was carried to Abraham. The rich man also died… and from the netherworld cried out,… ‘Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.’”
Loan me a man says the rich man. I shall reimburse neither you, Abraham, nor the poor man you loan me for his work. I have no interest in Lazarus but will charge Lazarus interest – for the poor exist to fulfill my wants. Loan me a people says the rich slave owner. I shall reimburse neither you, Africa, nor the Black people you loan me for a lifetime of torment. I have no interest in you but will charge you interest – for you Blacks exist to fulfill my wants. Loan me a generation says the rich class who cause the Great Depression, the Wall Street Bail-Out, the Student Debt Scheme, and so much more misery. I shall reimburse neither you the people, nor the public coffers, nor the generations whose money keeps me in fine linen and dining sumptuously. I have no interest in you workers who lose your jobs, you poor people who want a home, you entitled youth who want an educated future but will charge you interest – for all of you exist to fulfill my wants. You will loan me all I am interested in and I will be the rich man of Lazarus’ time and of all time. I will tell you I am Democracy or even Christianity but I will be lying. The truth is I will always be capitalism, the rich man who always organizes politics for my wants; who always controls finances to gain more capital; who always invents Gods to sanctify my behavior. I will tell you that your money I extract from you and redistribute among my idle rich class is deserved but that your money you keep and distribute among your underserving selves is welfare. I will tell you the first iron law of economics is that we live in a world of scarcity, while I live in a world of abundance. I will receive loans and default on my debt routinely and I will use shell games to walk away. I will make no mistake when I gamble on the market, craft twisted house loans, and equally twisted student loans no more than the rich man in the Gospel made a mistake when he walked past Lazarus. I will place self-interest for plunder over basic needs for people because that is how I the rich man operate. My plunder began in ancient days when I capitalized on enslaving human beings as property and persists still in my capitalizing on your slavery. I will tax you and promise affordable housing, health care, and schooling, while I remove each as a social service and reinvent them to use for my private wealth – as a debt bondage, a bankruptcy ploy, a loan proposal, because all of it is of interest to me for my wealth. Of interest to we the common people is a generation shifting political and financial narratives, laws, and moral sensibilities about loans with interest. We can thank, in large part, Occupy Wall Street whose members were interested in this shift a decade ago and have been working ever since to achieve the current end of debt bondage of students. Loan me a generation with interest and together we will end a system of rich men who produce and walk past poor men.
“This is the debt I pay… Years of regret and grief, Sorrow without relief. Pay it I will to the end — Until the grave, my friend, Gives me a true release — Gives me the clasp of peace. Slight was the thing I bought, Small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best — God! but the interest!” (The Debt – Paul Lawrence Dunbar)
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, energize me to end a system of wealth crafted from making others poor.
Question: How can I help this generation remain free of capitalism’s debt weapons?
September 25, 2022 Gospel Luke 16:19-31 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time