By usury I'm talking interest-bearing loans in general. I know there are usury laws prohibiting interest at a certain rate, but I'm referring to interest lending in the more general sense. Here's my take: Almost all of us are touched by and benefit from some form of usury. Even if the drawbacks outweigh those benefits, which is debatable, we all benefit either directly or indirectly. It shapes markets. Supposedly it creates wealth because a certain percentage (say 80%) of every loaned dollar will be spent, and then a percentage of that will be spent by the person who receives it. And by the next person. And so on. Usury allows us to purchase homes, cars, and college tuition at prices we would not be able to pay based on our wages and savings. However, because loans are available to everyone, their is a bigger pool of potential buyers for a given supply of goods, which supports higher prices. The cost is even higher when you factor in the interest you will pay on a loan for these price-inflated good. Even if you choose to avoid this interest cost by **not** taking out a loan, you are still buying and selling goods in markets which are inflated by many financed consumers. In essence, you can opt out of taking a loan, but you can't opt out of being part of a market inflated by usury. If we ended all usury today, I think the pain would be extreme. Who would have paid for a $300,000 house knowing no one would be able to afford anything close to that because usury was ended? What would happen to our markets and currency value if suddenly no one had borrowed money to spend, and the people who sold to borrowers had no more eligible buyers? Who would be hurt worse? The 'skilled' workers or the producers of tangible things? And as far as I'm aware, the only difference between lending with interest and usury is the connotation. The latter being negative. Correct me if I'm wrong on that point. What are your thoughts? edit: many small edits