Nothing but a Tail, by Dr. Edward E. Ayoub

EDITORIAL

Nothing But A Tail

The rhetoric of the champions of "free trade" is received doctrine around the globe -- at least, this is what many global lenders want borrowers to believe.

Government and business leaders continuously trumpet the benefits of a global marketplace -- one free private exchange economy spanning the globe. The "free" marketplace expands freedom and democracy, we are told. But do people believe the canting?

The Macroknow Global Topics measure people's interests in, or concern about, a variety of topics -- including, especially, Free Trade. What do the Macroknow indices tell us?

They tell us, unequivocally, that there is, in people's minds, a positive correlation between Free Trade and Evil. And that increases in Free Trade are not necessarily compatible with Justice.

Look at the empirical Charts below. They corroborate stunning correlations: A positive correlation between Free Trade and Evil; and a negative correlation between Free Trade and Justice. This is a matter of great concern.

CHART 1 Macroknow Global Topics Indices for Free Trade (right axis) and Evil (left axis). Note that Evil and Free Trade are positively correlated.

CHART 2 Macroknow Global Topics Indices for Free Trade and Justice. Note that Justice and Free Trade are negatively correlated.

G8, WTO, World Bank, and business leaders have been aggressively pushing for the globalization of "free trade." But, notwithstanding the repetitive mantra, many people do not trust the doctrine of "free trade."

Why? "Free trade," as currently constituted, is financed, in large part, by public and private debts -- and debt is nothing but economic slavery. This slavery has been codified in the Tanach as follows: "The rich rule the poor, and the borrower is a slave of the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).¹

The magnitude of the servitude in the United States can be measured by the monstrosity of America's private and public debts. America's public debt on November 30, 2001, was nearly $5.9 trillion.² The debt of the U.S. domestic nonfinancial sectors in September 2001 was in excess of $19 trillion!³

There is plenty of advice on lending and borrowing. Here is the advice the Hebrew sages and prophets gave to the Jews:

"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it . . . Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again . . . " [Deuteronomy 15:1-3]

"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury;
Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury . . . " [Deuteronomy 23:19-20]

"The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure . . .and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail . . . " [Deuteronomy 28:12-13]

The advice to the Jews is particularly relevant today. It clearly prohibits borrowing -- but it encourages lending to others. Most important, it differentiates between the lender and the borrower: the lender is the "head"; the borrower is the "tail" -- or, in the words of the Tanach, "a slave of the lender."

Let the heads of nations beware! They are being cajoled to join the "free trade" club. But this is a monstrous deception. The deception is designed to transform free peoples into nothing but a tail.

The great philosopher Immanuel Kant saw clearly through the lender's veil of deceit. In Perpetual Peace he wrote:

" . . . [A]s an instrument in the struggle among powers, the credit system -- the ingenious invention of a commercial people [England] during this century -- of endlessly growing debts that remain safe against immediate demand (since the demand for payment is not made by all creditors at the same time) is a dangerous financial power. It is a war chest exceeding the treasure of all other nations taken together . . . This ease in making war, combined with the inclination of those in power to do so . . . is a great obstacle to perpetual peace. Thus, forbidding foreign debt must be a preliminary article for perpetual peace . . . "⁴ [my emphasis]

Given the monstrosity of global debts, you can forget about perpetual peace. My advice is simple: If you want perpetual peace, rid the world of debt -- otherwise, prepare for war.⁵

Dr. Edward E. Ayoub

¹ The King James version of the Old Testament replaces slave with servant: "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."

² The Debt to the Penny, Bureau of the Public Debt Online, Washington, http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm.

³ The Federal Reserve Board, Money Stock and Debt Measures, H.6 Historical Data, Table 1 M1, M2, M3 and Debt (SA and NSA), December 6, 2001, http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/H6/hist/h6hist1.txt.

⁴ Immanuel Kant. To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795). Essay included in Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays on Politics, History, and Moral Practice. Translated with an Introduction by Ted Humphrey. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1983, at 107-143.

⁵ See Edward E. Ayoub, World War III Against the Money Trust?. Toronto, ON: Macroknow Inc., 1998.

Posted December 8, 2001.
Updated January 10, 2002.

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