On October 31, 1517,
Martin Luther posted
95 reasons on the door of Castle Church of Wittenberg,
arguing that the Catholic church's doctrine on the sale of indulgences was a corruption.
Martin Luther was a German priest
and professor of theology who disputed the claim of Johann Tentzel that
the forgiveness of sins could be purchased from the church.
Luther challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church,
by insisting that church doctrine must find its justifications
from
only once source - the Bible.
His translation of the Bible into the language of the people
(instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous
impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the
development of a standard version of the German language, added
several principles to the art of translation, and influenced
the translation into English of the King James Bible..
In 1517, literacy was low, but the
printing press had been invented around 1440.
When new information was received, people would gather round and
listen while the message was read.
This wasn't so different from what happend with Paul's letters that became
part of the new Testament. What was new was that a
printing press could duplicate 3,600 pages per day.
Luther's 95 reasons
took 1 year to spread because they had to be translated from Latin into German,
but once translated, they spread throughout Europe by the
printing press.
Imagine what would happen if Luther were alive today
and could publish his ideas on the internet!
Martin Luther was opposed to the Catholic church because it was
effectively religion distorted for the financial interests
of ruling church leadership, but at the same time he did not support the
Peasant's revolt of 1524-1525
because he believed that Romans 13:1-7 supported the
Divine rule of Kings.
There was a lot going on at the time, and a
complex class sytem
that was responding to these changes:
The princes were finding their administrative and military costs rising and passed
the increased costs on to the peasants through higher taxes and the selling of indulgences.
They also found it economically advantageous to break from Rome and become independent.
For the lesser nobility, evolving military technology was reducing the value of knights
and castles. Inflation and urbanization also contributed to the
Knights Revolt of 1522.
The clergy were losing their priveleged postion, and divided between
the aristocratic clergy that were well-positioned within the church and those poorer
and more rural clergy.
the peasants were coming under increasing financial pressure,
through increasing taxes, and the privatization of common fields, forests and waters. If
they wished to marry, they had to had their Lord's permission, and pay a marriage tax.
"Both are popular uprisings against powerful-but-nebulous entities believed
to be responsible for America
economic struggles. Both are defined not
by easily-identified leaders, but by the sum total of countless unique
viewpoints, and thus are not capable of articulating their goals with
any cohesiveness or specificity (nor should they be expected to).
And both movements, to borrow the classification scheme
created by Bill O'Reilly, are teeming
with both pinheads and patriots."
They agree on the problem
We do not have government by the people for the people.
"The greatest threat to our economy is neither corporations nor the government.
The greatest threat to our economy is both of them working together.
There are currently two sizable coalitions of angry citizens that
are almost on the same page about that,
and they're too busy insulting each other to notice.""
..but not the solution
To generalize:
The Tea Party tends to believe that the solution is
more limited government,
while the Occupy Wall Street crowd tends to seek more
of a role for government regulation.
It's Complicated
Sinclair volunteers that he is simplifying,
and it's worth considering what some of
the other factors are that may be contributing the the social and economic
pressure that people feel.
The Declining Attention Span
But unfortunately the average attention span is not what it used to be in 1517.
This article has already drug on long enough, only made bearable by the addition
of:
bullet points,
pictures, and
and video
Next
In a future article, I'll consider what a modern-day 95 theses would look like.
Draft: 99 Reasons to "Occupy the World"
Here are about 50 Wall-Street centric reasons.
You can submit your own (on any subject) on twitter and
vote:
Financial institutions
pursue risky strategies
because they know that if they fail, their losses will be socialized,
but if they succeed, their gains
will stay private:
Lemon Socialism = Socialism for the Rich.
Yes, modern attention spans are shorter than they were in 1517.
I set about to write 99, and made it half way there. Clicking on each blue
underlined word will take you to an article with more information.
Hovering over each link will produce a summary. You can't follow every link
in one sitting, so don't try, but hover over the links that interest you for more information.
These low interest rates hurt savers (especially senior citizens).
When the financial industry behaves recklessly, the cost is not just the initial bailout, but also the lost economic output
and the human toll caused by the economic collapse.
Banks can borrow money from the government at x % and then lend
it back to the government at y %, "earning" a guaranteed profit, a hidden way the government recapitalizes the banks.
Banks make large profits from charging their customers tricky fees
Banks try to get their customers to overdraw their account so that
they can charge fees; and they count the money in a tricky way that
increases the amount of the overdraft fees they assess.
Some banks deliberately set their payment due dates on weekends and
holidays, and at times that are deliberately designed to increase the
number of people whose payments are received late.
Its not just "Caveat Emptor", Wall Street has a mentality of "fair fraud" : "We ripped those guys off 'fair and square'."
AIG was bailed out
because they offered an undercapitalized form of quasi insurance on these bad bets.
Unlike normal bankruptcies, the governement paid AIG's quasi insurance holders the full amount
because the collapse of large systemically dangerous banks threatened to create a
dangerous depression.
Alan Greenspan said that though he did not assume that corporate
leaders would act in the interests of the public, he was surprised that
they did not act in the interests of their own shareholders. If someone
like Greenspan can question whether corporate governance works for
corporations, can it be surprising that the public questions whether it
works for them.
Wall Street has fought and "watered down" the Volcker Rule: Protest Sign
Banks that take deposits from regular depositors should not be able to speculate on their own behalf.
