> "insider trading ban—something that should be a sine qua non"
Am I unique in having the immediate gut feeling that insider trading should be the only trading? That anyone who doesn't have access to insider knowledge has no business trading at all, and is just gambling on the economy?
Though in fairness his worry was that those who weren’t on the inside would be harmed by stock machinations and so should focus on safer bonds, where that was less likely
The stock market wasn't made to gamble on. It was created so a business could get a sudden influx of cash by offering parts of itself for other wise people to invest in.
It used to pay those people, and then tried like hell to buy those stocks back.
It's only the latest generation of vipers that have turned it into a gambling addiction.
My dad never invested in anything without checking it out comprehensively. He would go back 10 years and see how they did business.
Psalm 15:1 and 5 "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved."
Ezekiel 18: 4c-5 and 8-9 "'The soul who sins shall die. But if a man is just And does what is lawful and right; If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man and man; If he has walked in My statutes—And kept My judgments faithfully—He is just; He shall surely live!' Says the Lord God."
The charging of interest contravenes God's holy law. Prosperity founded on iniquity will not last. That's true of our current financial system (especially seen in its ongoing collapse), and it's still true if our system were to recover through increasing interest rates. Increasing interest rates is only compounding iniquity. While higher rates may provide medium term relief, in the end it will all crumble under the judgement of Christ. Christians should avoid debt as much as possible in our corrupt times and should not lend at interest to others.
Here is part of an excellent series of articles on usury answering some common objections.
My understanding was that modern church theology is that debt that is productive rather than exploitative, so a Chevron bond that finances a new refinery instead of credit card debt, for example, isn’t usury and thus isn’t a sin. Is that incorrect?
That is a broadly accepted modern understanding; however, historically the Christian Church has understood usury to be charging any interest whatsoever and thereby gaining increase from what was lent. The Biblical prohibitions don't make a distinction regarding amount of interest or provide qualifications of the use of the loan. Profit generated purely by virtue of money having been lent (i.e., interest) is forbidden.
In the case of a Chevron bond, it depends on how it works. If the bond is dependent on profits, such as I give Chevron my money and if they make money then I receive a share of profit (and they have no obligation to repay me the full amount I lent if profits are bad), that's fine. But if the bond is like a normal loan, such as I give Chevron my money and they owe me that amount plus extra money on top simply for having lent them money, that's usury.
The latter kind of bond is extractive against Chevron. They owe me money regardless of reality (how the new refinery improves revenue). Money doesn't beget itself, but interest expects money to simply appear because it was lent to someone. It's completely divorced from reality.
Personally, I see the benefits of the Biblical understanding. If everyone only loaned with the understanding there might not be any repayment, there would be a lot less debt and a lot less of the problems that come with it for individuals and in a society. Some will object saying less loans/debt will hamper progress, but progress built on iniquity is vapor. It will not endure.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
I agree that we need sound money again, but this will prove impossible to achieve under the Federal Reserve System and the current international monetary system.
the "Central Committee to Determine the Time Value of Money, Ensure the Ongoing Profitability of Our Banking Cartel, and Alot Credit to Those Who We Prefer (Which Sometimes Requires Taxpayer Bailouts)" was too unwieldy a name, so they call it The Fed. Arbitrary power to decide real interest rates shouldn't exist for a select few.
You continue to be my favorite serious person on Substack. I still consider myself a libertarian. The market needs a violent reset in terms of WACC. The price of Money has been wildly distorted since 1913 and started accelerating with Nixon.
When banks used to set their own interest rates, they made sure they had money to cover loans.
People who couldn't afford the rate were never given home loans, or car loans, or even education loans. If you failed to pay it back, whatever it was, was taken by the bank. Whether it be house, car, or computer.
When rates were static, banks made loans to people who could never pay them back, and just foisted those failures off on the Fed.
Most people didn't have credit cards, and those that did, made sure not to overcharge for small things. Gas was cash, bills by check, never by credit.
Now Credit is a joke since most places don't report to Experian, etc.
The Congress should never get to interfere in business, since they have insider information.
Laws should be passed that makes inside trading illegal. We need anti-corruption bills, and representatives and senators should never be allowed to accept gifts from businesses, other governments, or donors.
All this has allowed the government to serve two masters: Mammon and God, but Mammon wins over God.
In short, we get what we deserve for not being financially upright stewards of our government.
You are correct in identifying the fact that lower rates are a big problem. This stems from the fact that the rates are artificial. It's not even close to what Mises called the originary interest rate, historically.
The answer, though, isn't to further manipulate the interest rate to whatever any of us considers the desired degree. The answer is to abolish central banking and let the interest rate emerge in the market naturally. This will likely bring up to historical levels (around 8%) with fluctuations based on the time-preferences of the market participants.
In other words, the monetarists are the problem. The people who deign to dictate the value of time for everyone else. The solution isn't to plug in the "right" number. The solution is to separate money from state entirely and get back to free-market money. This is what bitcoin does. No human should be able to dictate the value of time to any other human. It's the most abhorrent type of central planning and it has led every single currency to lose nearly all of its value over the last century.
Low interest rates punish you for saving and reward you for getting into debt.
Indeed
> "insider trading ban—something that should be a sine qua non"
Am I unique in having the immediate gut feeling that insider trading should be the only trading? That anyone who doesn't have access to insider knowledge has no business trading at all, and is just gambling on the economy?
Haha. JP Morgan thought so, from what I remember
TBF, he also had the most inside information of anyone at the time.
Yes that’s why he thought so😂
Though in fairness his worry was that those who weren’t on the inside would be harmed by stock machinations and so should focus on safer bonds, where that was less likely
The stock market wasn't made to gamble on. It was created so a business could get a sudden influx of cash by offering parts of itself for other wise people to invest in.
It used to pay those people, and then tried like hell to buy those stocks back.
It's only the latest generation of vipers that have turned it into a gambling addiction.
My dad never invested in anything without checking it out comprehensively. He would go back 10 years and see how they did business.
Psalm 15:1 and 5 "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved."
Ezekiel 18: 4c-5 and 8-9 "'The soul who sins shall die. But if a man is just And does what is lawful and right; If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man and man; If he has walked in My statutes—And kept My judgments faithfully—He is just; He shall surely live!' Says the Lord God."
The charging of interest contravenes God's holy law. Prosperity founded on iniquity will not last. That's true of our current financial system (especially seen in its ongoing collapse), and it's still true if our system were to recover through increasing interest rates. Increasing interest rates is only compounding iniquity. While higher rates may provide medium term relief, in the end it will all crumble under the judgement of Christ. Christians should avoid debt as much as possible in our corrupt times and should not lend at interest to others.
Here is part of an excellent series of articles on usury answering some common objections.
https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2025/6/26/we-have-got-to-talk-about-usury-part-ii-the-old-testament
My understanding was that modern church theology is that debt that is productive rather than exploitative, so a Chevron bond that finances a new refinery instead of credit card debt, for example, isn’t usury and thus isn’t a sin. Is that incorrect?
That is a broadly accepted modern understanding; however, historically the Christian Church has understood usury to be charging any interest whatsoever and thereby gaining increase from what was lent. The Biblical prohibitions don't make a distinction regarding amount of interest or provide qualifications of the use of the loan. Profit generated purely by virtue of money having been lent (i.e., interest) is forbidden.
In the case of a Chevron bond, it depends on how it works. If the bond is dependent on profits, such as I give Chevron my money and if they make money then I receive a share of profit (and they have no obligation to repay me the full amount I lent if profits are bad), that's fine. But if the bond is like a normal loan, such as I give Chevron my money and they owe me that amount plus extra money on top simply for having lent them money, that's usury.
The latter kind of bond is extractive against Chevron. They owe me money regardless of reality (how the new refinery improves revenue). Money doesn't beget itself, but interest expects money to simply appear because it was lent to someone. It's completely divorced from reality.
Personally, I see the benefits of the Biblical understanding. If everyone only loaned with the understanding there might not be any repayment, there would be a lot less debt and a lot less of the problems that come with it for individuals and in a society. Some will object saying less loans/debt will hamper progress, but progress built on iniquity is vapor. It will not endure.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
I agree that we need sound money again, but this will prove impossible to achieve under the Federal Reserve System and the current international monetary system.
Sound money certainly will be
However we could at least get higher rates that help roll back some of the worst aspects of financialism
the "Central Committee to Determine the Time Value of Money, Ensure the Ongoing Profitability of Our Banking Cartel, and Alot Credit to Those Who We Prefer (Which Sometimes Requires Taxpayer Bailouts)" was too unwieldy a name, so they call it The Fed. Arbitrary power to decide real interest rates shouldn't exist for a select few.
You and Arctotherium and Night Owls have the best rightwing content on the net. Good work.
Thanks!
You continue to be my favorite serious person on Substack. I still consider myself a libertarian. The market needs a violent reset in terms of WACC. The price of Money has been wildly distorted since 1913 and started accelerating with Nixon.
This essay is going in my re-read folder.
Thanks!
When banks used to set their own interest rates, they made sure they had money to cover loans.
People who couldn't afford the rate were never given home loans, or car loans, or even education loans. If you failed to pay it back, whatever it was, was taken by the bank. Whether it be house, car, or computer.
When rates were static, banks made loans to people who could never pay them back, and just foisted those failures off on the Fed.
Most people didn't have credit cards, and those that did, made sure not to overcharge for small things. Gas was cash, bills by check, never by credit.
Now Credit is a joke since most places don't report to Experian, etc.
The Congress should never get to interfere in business, since they have insider information.
Laws should be passed that makes inside trading illegal. We need anti-corruption bills, and representatives and senators should never be allowed to accept gifts from businesses, other governments, or donors.
All this has allowed the government to serve two masters: Mammon and God, but Mammon wins over God.
In short, we get what we deserve for not being financially upright stewards of our government.
You are correct in identifying the fact that lower rates are a big problem. This stems from the fact that the rates are artificial. It's not even close to what Mises called the originary interest rate, historically.
The answer, though, isn't to further manipulate the interest rate to whatever any of us considers the desired degree. The answer is to abolish central banking and let the interest rate emerge in the market naturally. This will likely bring up to historical levels (around 8%) with fluctuations based on the time-preferences of the market participants.
In other words, the monetarists are the problem. The people who deign to dictate the value of time for everyone else. The solution isn't to plug in the "right" number. The solution is to separate money from state entirely and get back to free-market money. This is what bitcoin does. No human should be able to dictate the value of time to any other human. It's the most abhorrent type of central planning and it has led every single currency to lose nearly all of its value over the last century.