The Great Economy

An economy is the conservation in the expenditure or consumption of money and materials of any sort. This management of expenditures is how nations grow. Thus, without the economy, we would still be in the feudal era where everyone is owned by someone else. Without the assistance of many of the important people who allowed the world to advance through the era, we wouldn't have all of the technology that allow our economy to grow. Yet, growing is not the only advancement that would need to happen for the economy to become strong. The fundamental parts of the economy is the financial stabilization of the people.

"With usura hath no man a house of good stone each
block cut smooth and well fitting that design might cover
their face. With usura hath no man a painted paradise on his
church wall... no picture is made to endure nor to live with but it is
made to sell and sell quickly with ursura, sin against nature."
--Erza Pound, (Medici Money, Tim Parks, pg. 1)--

Money allows people to expand their horizons and have a better way of living. Yet, during the Renaissance era the church was limiting the money for the people. Usury was a way for people to get money faster and be able make their business grow faster, yet the Church didn't like usury because it gave the Banks a source of income. To stop this "sin against nature" the Church said that who ever uses usury will be excommunicated from the church, thus they wouldn't be allowed into heaven, which slowed the process but didn't stop it. The people wanted a way to get money and borrowed the money from the bank, but the bank would not be able to ask for interest or it would be usury. Then came the "Art of Exchange," which is the way around the Church's block on the use of usury. The "Art of Exchange" is the way people would receive a loan from a bank and when it came time to pay them bank, he or she would give a gift to thank them. This would in turn be the interest on the loan that would be the sin, but because there is a different name on it makes it reasonable in the eyes of the Church.

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter if your a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running."
--Mandarin Proverb, (The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman, pg. 137)--

When Friedman put this proverb in his book he used it as an analogy towards big business and small business. When you take a look at how the business grew, you can see how the need for money would increase. The Scientific and Industrial Revolution caused the increase of populations, thus the increase in the need for money. The Scientific Revolution allowed the banks to use usury without the conflict between them and the Church, which started the Industrial Revolution. Now, the industry is now growing giving people more industrial jobs. These jobs were also higher paying. Consequently, banks could not keep up with the demand for the metal money. Johan Palmstruch, of the Palmstruch bank, made the first banknote which started the idealistic money and the increase in the businesses flexibility to grow larger and increase productivity.

The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx in the 1840's. It was on the bases for a course of action against the bourgeoisie or the ruling upper class. This is because Marx believes in the Locke point of view. In that, human nature is characterised by tolerance and doesn't need an governmental or ruling figure to live together in harmony. John Locke was an advocate for the checks and balances and the supply and demand, for it keeps people in one level of rule and no one is at the top of this level. Without these, the nations would not be able to have such a stable economy. Marx also stated, which was quoted on page 237 of The World is Flat, that in place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency is the universal dependency of nations. In short, we today have a solid economy and job security because of what the men and women before us accomplished. Without the perseverance of the bourgeoisie we might not have the big business, and who knows? We might not have even had the banking systems and the stock market which allows us today to fluctuate through the levels of wealth. Accordingly, we owe our entire lives to the era's that changed our economy because we depend on our credit cards and accounts that we store our "fake" money today.