5 Minute Exercise to Illustrate the Way Usury Destroys Cooperation
5 Minute Exercise to Illustrate the Way Usury Destroys Cooperation
Find an object which you have two of. This can be two pencils, two dollars, two ounces of gold, or two apples. In a group of at least 3 people, let one person lend these object to the other two people with the stipulation that they will owe the lender twice the amount lent in 5 minutes or else they will get lose all their belongings and maybe even go to prison for stealing. For instance, if I give one person one pencil, that person will owe me two pencils in 5 minutes. Two people should now each have one object and an obligation to pay back two objects in 5 minutes. Now, ask them if everyone in the game can pay back their obligation.
This exercise illustrates how lending anything at interest leads to competition among the players in which one must lose in order for the other to win. Since there are only two objects in “the economy” and the obligation is 4 objects, it is mathematically impossible for the two players to both uphold their obligation. The only moral way to play the gain is to reject any obligation created from nothing which is otherwise known as unearned guilt. This lesson also becomes a warning to the person who would create obligations from nothing, otherwise known as ill-gotten gain. This exercise is simply enough to teach to very small children. Anyone who can count can understand this lesson.
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