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Jim's Quote of the Day:
"If there were no such thing in this world as becoming surety, if
the free lending portrayed in the gospel were the general practice,
and
if only hard cash or wares on hand were exchanged in trade, then the
greatest and most harmful dangers and faults and failings of trade
and commerce would be well out of the way. It would then be easy to
engage in all sorts of business enterprises, and the other sinful faults
of trade could the more readily be prevented. If there were none of
this becoming surety and this lending without risk, many a man would
have to maintain his humble status and be content with a modest living
who now aspires day and night to reach an exalted position, relying
on borrowing and standing surety. That is why everyone now wants to
be a merchant and get rich. From this stem the countless dangerous
and wicked devices and dirty tricks that have today become a joke among
the merchants. There are so many of them that I have given up the hope
that trade can be entirely corrected; it is so overburdened with all
sorts of wickedness and deception that in the long run it will not
be able to sustain itself, but will have to collapse inwardly
of its own weight." - Martin Luther, Sermon On Trade And Usury (1520)
