Stickman's "95 Theses": a Reformation of the Global Financial System
On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his "95 Theses" on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany as a protest criticizing the abuses by and rampant corruption of the Pope Leo and the Roman Catholic Church in general. (Neither the Pope nor the Church nor the were particularly amused). Especially annoying to Luther was the Church's practice of selling "indulgences" (a little cetificate that said you can buy your own way or that of beloved others out of damnation for a small contribution to help finance the massive renovation of St. Peter's Cathedral as well as other Vatican operating deficits). It was in effect like trading carbon credits or excess development rights-- a surplus of good works could be transferred to transgressors at prevailing market prices. It was intended to be a pay-as-you go plan but kept falling short of its targets. (In effect the Pope's ingenious fundraisng campaign led to the modern financial debt markets). But the virtually-unknown Luther didn't see it that way and wanted to reform these corrupt practices. Hence the Protestant-Catholic conflict began. And the world has never been the same since.
For a little refresher for those who haven't committed Luther's "95 Theses" to memory, here is a link for your convenience http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html
This small act of defiance by Luther (a halloween prank of sorts) led to a massive reformation of the the entire global order of everything. Luther's "who needs the middle men?" attitude has a resemblance to the global banking system. Perhaps we can learn a few things from Martin Luther and his "95 Theses." But Luther's Protestant movement resulted in the one of the driving forces of capitalism as the historian/ sociologist Max Weber identifies in his 1904 masterpiece, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Perhaps we can use Luther's insight and create a Reformation 2.0 to address some of the corruption and abuses that have destroyed our once-brilliant experimental system of allocating resources known as capitalism that encouraged every man for himself. That experiment has failed.
So new experiments are flowing from Washington on a daily basis trying to solve the daunting challenge of preservation of civilization. We intend to help separate the feces from the theses by looking through Martin Luther's lens (with a little humor thrown in for good measure) Gotta keep these guys honest. We've got a few good ideas of our own. We will invite readers to submit their ideas as well. If we can't fix this sucker with the new "95 Theses" and the Financial Reformation then what the hell good are we?
Coming Soon from EPD
