BANCA VII - ARGENTARIA VII - BANK VII

In Portugal the banks again, trying to turn expensive operations of take money from a cash machine to balance with the elimination of comissions in electronic payments in retail sales and services triggered by European Comission.

We have so many problems with Portuguese financial system and banks with a lot of money transfered to them (BPN scandal, financial assistance by Troika) without credit for so many companies anf families after a lot of credit offered (stop and go cycles), so protected by state that sometimes we can ask: what is it utility to Society? How was it History?

Financial system and banks have a very important function in our societies to manage money, space and time by save, exchange and lending money (financing).

What is money? Money is a merchandise with a very specific capacity: like Marx said is an general equivalent, accepted by community, under control of political or social power. If we trust in that kind of merchandise approved by authorities or by the persons of the society (coins of gold, silver or other metals, shells, printed paper, electronic flows, whatever) we can change that by all products, merchandises and services by a mirror of the exchange value for all of them in the form of a price, determined by the interactions of the players of the society, with different degrees of freedom and power.

If the merchandise money lost value we can have an inflaction (the great threat for German authorities because the strong devaluation of Deutsch marks in the second decade of XX century) and if if he win value we can have a deflaction.

The social games of positive, null or negative sum have resultants between the social validation of the potential values of products, merchandises, services. Money waiting for it rule, like a social balance.

A social player emerge in humankind with two determinant functions: save, exchange money and lending money (give loans), give time to other players create value by them work to society in a deep social division of the work to satisfy social needs.
In Assyria and Babylonia around 2.000 before Christ banks of merchants made grains loans to farmers and traders; in Babylonia and Egypt gold are deposited in temples.

After in Greece and with a great developement in Roman Empire, lenders of money accepted also deposits (the bankers named argentarius in banks named Taberae Argentarioe) and change money. Money lenders work with a long bench called bancu (the source of the words banco and bank). Thhe Roman Empire have a great regulation over financial institutions in competition by is interest on loans and deposits. The preference for cash transactions limited banks and with emerging of Christianity the charging of interests was rejected as immoral, with the long history of abuses in interest rates named usury.
  After the fall of Rome only by crusades in XII century, the needs of it financing turned Knights Templar (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici - Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon) owners of a developed financial system along Europe supported by them castles. Philippe IV of France financing him wars by Templars banking system and the big debt created was solved by the French king by the him persecution of the military order with the support of the French pope Clement V (Raymond Bertrand de Got) under him control.  

To be continued ...

 
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