Against Interest

I am going to add interest payments to my topics on this blog, and I will work against the practice. Let me lay out some premises first.

One of the initial problems will be definitions, something the Austrians argue over:

Interest

money

property rights

For example, if I say "interest intervention, as exercised by the fed, is the core mechanism for advancing much if not all of the evil inherent in empire, and ther fore should be suspect..." immediately problems arise from at least two angles...

1. One may disagree with the statement, even if the terms are defined and agreed upon...

2. one may argue interest as defined by the FED and interest as defined in a free market are two different things, so the statement is moot, if it applies to interest in the free market.

Some broad premises:

A. Property is material mixed with labor, that is to say what you can homestead on your own (or by your family). Interest allows you to control far more than you can without interest, but ultimately only with government intervention. As a practical matter, people who refuse to pay interest in spite of contractual obligation, will find no real sanction in a free market. Only government sanction can enforce interest payments.

B. WE can have all that is good, true and beautiful without recourse to interest payments. We cannot have war and starvation and depredation without recourse to interest payments (or to state positively, interest allows the concentration of power that distorts markets).

C. The alternative to interest is skin in the game. Interest assures that someone gets back principal plus, regardless of the fortunes of the borrower. This is a mild form of slavery, and any form of slavery is unethical, and contrary to inalienable rights.

D. Wealth is created by savings, not debt. Debt, which is encouraged by interest, is not the only means to effect some progress.

These are only rough outlines, which suggest to me there is more to be argued against interest in a free market.

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