From the Mind of MandoRon

I just finished reading Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG by Jack Cashill, so I guess it’s time to post the review.

Popes and Bankers is an incredibly fascinating read.  And just like the title infers, it’s a cultural history of credit and debt.  It caught my eye because of the recent credit and banking crisis that has tanked the U.S. economy.  Popes and Bankers attempts to explain how we ended up in this crisis by exploring society’s views on usury (a.k.a. lending at interest) throughout world history.  Cashill also discusses the people that had major impacts on our views of moneylending - the authors, the philosophers, the rulers, the businessmen, the crooks, etc…  Interestingly, the book is written from a Christian worldview.  So a lot of time is spent exploring and commenting on the Jewish and Christian influence on society.

The list of interesting topics is too long to list…  But, for me, there were a few key things that really made the book worth reading.  First was reading how Charles Ponzi got a scheme named after him.  (Very timely, I know.)  Second was learning about all the bubbles and financial meltdowns of different societies throughout the centuries. 

Third…  I’ve always heard the anti-semitic comments about “jewish bankers”, but I’ve never really understood where these thoughts come from.  Interestingly, they partially go back to Mosaic law which allowed the Jews to lend money at interest to strangers.  And Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice didn’t help either. 

Fourth, it seems that all financial troubles generally result from greed - either people wanting more than they have or people trying to make money without doing anything of tangible value.  And lastly, I found it interesting how our unique American culture and politics brought about this recent collapse.

There were also a few things that I didn’t like about Popes and Bankers.  I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in business, and I usually win at Scrabble,  but I found the first few chapters nearly incomprehensible.  I didn’t know half of the words that Cashill used, and I really felt like he was trying to compete with Virgil and Shakespeare while crafting his prose.  Fortunately, what I did understand was interesting and I pressed on.  Once you get over that mountain, the rest of the book is very readable although there are still quite a few post-doctoral words to be found.

Legal stuff:  I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

When I saw the first comment proclaiming the amazingnous of Miley Cyrus as an artist… I got suspicious. 

When I read another comment the next day with the same exact wording but a different author… I was certain.

SPAM!

Definition:

A group of guys going somewhere together for the purpose of doing nothing.  Typically involves a few life-long friends, poker chips, a grill, and for some of the guys, consuming beer and scotch.

Use in a sentence:

The movie, “Wild Hogs” was about four friends hitting the road for a mancation.

Footnotes:

1. Since 1972, guys have been banned from bringing banjos with them.
2. Two interesting subsets of the mancation, are the hunting trip and the fishing trip.  Guns and/or fly rods are featured in these mancations.

First I want to clear things up… this isn’t a doomsday post.  (I don’t like those, in general.)

It’s just that I read two articles in the last two days that pointed to the same thing, but for different reasons.  It intrigued me.

Monday, I read this article “Cell Phone Mania Forces Scramble for More Airwaves” which discusses the bandwidth/spectrum issues that cell phone providers are facing.  As more cell phone users are needing more bandwidth for their cell phones, providers are running out of usable bandwidth.  One potential solution is to free up the spectrum used by broadcast television.

Then this morning, I read this article “Broadcaster’s Woes Could Spell Trouble for Free TV“.  Apparently the 4 networks are having financial woes because their historical business model has collapsed.  (I guess somebody moved their cheese…)  Faced with less ad revenues, some industry experts think that the networks will eventually give up broadcasting for free and switch solely to a pay-TV (cable, satellite, etc…) business model.

Both articles are worth reading.

Is the end of free TV in sight?  Maybe…  I hope it takes a while, though, because we cancelled our DirecTV service several years ago and I really like not having a cable or satellite bill.  (Sorry Denny.)

Interesting consequences for HD also.  We don’t have an HDTV yet, but I’m told that the local broadcasts are higher quality than what you get from Cox Cable, DirecTV, etc…

Thoughts?  Are we the only household in America that still relies on the free airwaves?

As you can tell by the title, what you are reading is not my original post.

Yesterday, I went on a bit of blogging tirade.  It all started when I received a bit of mail that touched on a nerve… stepped on one of my pet peeves, if you will.

So I wrote a rather scathing rebuke for all the world to read and agree with. 

Was I right? Probably.  Was airing it out in public the right thing to do?  No.

Luckily, I have a rule never to post anything while I’m ticked and my wife lectured me about why I shouldn’t.

1 Peter 3:8 says “Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.”  He was talking to me too.