Profits not satanic?

Um, strictly speaking, true.

But there is such a thing as usury:

an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest; specifically : interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money

And one who makes his wealth by usury ought not defend himself in this manner.

I mean, if justifying your lies and theft in a church isn't also a violation of the Second Commandment, I don't know what is!

Now, seriously, lest I be mistaken for a commie pinko, I have no problem with a profit motive in business. There's nothing wrong, in and of itself, with making money.

But what is wrong is profit as the primary motive, or the only motive.

The role of a business, it seems to me, is to provide some good or service to society. The role of a bank in particular is to provide ordinary people with easy storage and transport of their wealth. This is a good and noble and necessary service. And there is nothing wrong with making profit from such a service.

So long as the service comes first.

What these banks have done is pursue profit at the expense of the service they were committed to provide for their customers. And that is wrong. It is immoral, and if it isn't criminal (which I think it is) it should be.

This is one reason I'm more a fan of non-profit credit unions than of banks. Credit unions generally do keep the service of society at the forefront. And if they don't there are more immediate consequences.

Would that many other sectors of society were run on such a basis!