Oddbean

In the year 33 AD Jesus came to Jerusalem. The city was packed with pilgrims who had come for the celebration of the Passover. It has been estimated that they numbered 300,000 to 400,000. Jesus visited the temple. He saw a courtyard filled with livestock, merchants, and money changers, who exchanged the standard Greek and Roman money for Tyrian shekels. The money changers received a profit, of which a solid share likely were collected by the high priests on behalf of Pontius Pilate. I assume that, with the enormous masses of visitors, the profits from the money changing must have been massive. According to the gospel of Matthew: "Jesus went into the house of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Jesus's actions most likely prompted the authorities' decision to later have Jesus arrested. 6/13 https://image.nostr.build/26fc3522fd380e26f3101c0f01ce1e16a18399e393906518b6e5426b51308578.jpg

Jesus informed his disciples during the Last Supper that one of them will betray him. When they asked who it would be, according to the gospel of John, Jesus said: “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” He then dipped a piece of bread in a dish and handed it to Judas, identified as the “son of Simon Iscariot.” After Judas received the piece of bread, “Satan entered into him.” 7/13 https://image.nostr.build/be3c03b78a157a0f58eb9f58eb4ac15cef8dc728c4b63972483c4e9bc03408aa.jpg

According to the gospel of Matthew, Judas went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So, they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over." 8/13 https://image.nostr.build/25c942a4bdcb75cf5f9bca3dd1b58cf384a0a81902b05f600d2a85fd35d78fbd.jpg

Judas led soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he identified Jesus by kissing him and calling him “Rabbi.” 9/13 https://image.nostr.build/565eeced1008709a579e3ef436f4a95275e8e245df97d33120bbdd0fe605a78b.jpg

According to the gospel of Matthew, Judas regretted his actions and returned the 30 pieces of silver to church authorities, saying: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” When the authorities dismissed him, Judas left the coins on the floor. 11/13 https://image.nostr.build/3892424b8d612eaa7a9e3e4de5fb538758b7c155fab17d993d3f9299ceb7eda9.jpg

The story about how Jesus died carries several important lessons about money. The most import one is, that it's not "What's the best money?" that is the question we should concentrate on. No, the important question is: "What's the best and the worst monetary system?" In principle, we only have two systems: Monetary freedom - the right to use the money you like best. Monetary monopoly - in which a ruler dictates that the people must use the money that he is the sole producer of. And the story about why Jesus died after having threatened the policies of Pontius Pilate tells us all we need to know about the evils of monetary monopoly. Furthermore, the story tells us that it's not the debasement of money that is the most negative aspect of a monetary monopoly. Debasement is just one way of abusing the monopoly. We know from other stories, for instance the parity policy in Europe in the 1920s, that deflation of the money supply can be just as bad, and that it even can be worse than inflation of the money supply. Therefore, it's the possibility to abuse the monopoly that is the problem, not how it's abused. And lastly, the story is also a sad reminder of how religion is inextricably linked to monetary policy. In fact, I think this might be the worst stain on religion. We see the same problem repeating itself many times throughout history. I know one of these examples very well, because it caused enormous hardship to my ancestors here in Trøndelag, Norway. The Norwegian kings Olav Tryggvasson and Harald Sigurdsson (later St. Olav) tried to use a combination of Christianization by sword and monopolization of coinage to rule my people. They didn't succeed, but they laid the groundwork for king Harald Hardråde, who completed the tyrants' project in 1050 AD. Religious leaders all over the world should in my opinion start discussing the evils of monetary monopoly and how they should deal with it in the future Thank you for reading. If you liked this piece, the algorithms and I would appreciate it if you pushed the like, share and follow buttons. Feel free to check out our book on the UNDOQO website. (This photo shows Harald Hardråde's coin, with the Christian cross on one side, and his name on the other.) 13/13 https://image.nostr.build/612cd36576f5361ce5ad83559e4cff3439a0c28e40f5846b8246997b3ac90773.jpg

I believe the thread above might become one of the most important summaries that I have put together about events in the history of monetary policy. Some of the wording is a cut and paste from many, many sources that I browsed before writing it. I therefore take no credit for the wording. I just puzzled the pieces together, and made sure that it was readable, factual and to the point. Having reflected over the post afterwards, I feel I have to add that the story about the last days' of Jesus from Nazareth demonstrates to the full extent how evil monetary policy is. I'll explain: Pontius Pilate probably wanted to have everything related to money as close as possible to the temple in Jerusalem: - the mint where he produced the coins - the money lending - the exchange of money - the trading with money, goods and services - the taxing of the pilgrims As other rulers, he wanted to monopolize and centralize everything related to money and to do it to the highest degree possibly. This enabled him to extract wealth at all levels which involved exchange between people who didn't know each other or who needed a medium of exchange in order to interact or to follow their people's religious traditions. Furthermore, it maded it possible for Pontius Pilate to amass wealth and power at the lowest cost possibly - as it would have been a lot more costly for him to maintain an apparatus that travelled all places where people were in order to steal the fruits of their labor. As you see - monpolization of money and centralization of everything goes hand in hand. The story also strengthens my perception of the monetary system as being the most valuable and powerful social network that we have seen in history. As a specie, we have a deep desire for interacting with people that we don't know, and perhaps especially so when we gather in large religious feasts. Money developed as a means to make it possible to a much higher degree to cooperate with strangers. Monetary policy, on the other hand, puts up a virtual wall between strangers. Monetary policy is at its core a tax on our desire to interact with people we don't know, and a tax on visiting places. It's a policy that aims at making it possible for the ruling class to amass their wealth and power to the greatest extent, and at the cost of the rest of the people, who for the most part just want to be social and friendly with each other. Finally, this story makes it even clearer to me that monetary freedom is the only ethical system that we can have in relation to our need to use a general medium of exchange when we interact with each other. Again - thanks for your interest in following my reflections on this important political subject. (I mentioned the algorithms above, but I guess we don't have this yet here on Nostr, do we? Cut and paste between different platforms isn't always easy :-))

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