Rothbard on Usury

David Gordon has an excellent article on Marxism and Judaism, which touches on usury.  in part,

Rothbard remarks: “Calvin’s main contribution to the usury question was in having the courage to dump the prohibition altogether. . . To Calvin, then, usury is perfectly licit, provided it is not charged in loans to the poor, who would be hurt by such payment.” Rothbard continues about a later Calvinist, “The honor of putting the final boot to the usury prohibition belongs to. . . Claudius Salmasius,. . .who finished off this embarrassing remnant of the mountainous errors of the past. In short, Salmasius pointed out that money-lending was a business like any other, and like other businesses was entitled to charge a market price. . .Salmasius also had the courage to point out that there were no valid arguments against usury, either by divine or natural law.”

This needs to be challenged.  I've met and much admire David Gordon, but he does endorse these views.  I am eager to find the time to refute this.   Please feel free to share this post with three of your friends.