> Christians, for example, were for centuries not loaning with interest, not because they weren't humans, but because they valued a moral code more than profit.

> Christians, for example, were for centuries not loaning with interest, not because they weren't humans, but because they valued a moral code more than profit. That confuses who's making the choices with who they're making them for. There were always christians willing to lend for interest, what stopped them was the other xians who thought it was bad. Also, look as islamic banking as a modern example. It charges almost exactly as much as a system with interest would but the payments are structured as fees, etc. There's still usury, it's just in the form of ruinous collateral-backed fees, instead of compound interest. A late-payment fee, on the capital plus a previous late-payment fee, is economically identical.