Today I'm thinking of the acts of buying and selling. I dislike these acts so intensely that I cannot imagine that anyone else could like them; but apparently certain people enjoy buying and selling. It appears that actually more people love these things than hate these things. I prefer sharing... & giving away, tossing away, throwing away. I like an order of living that has the goal of supplying everyone with what they need, and nobody worries about whether anyone is taking more than they deserve, because an adequately ordered humanity's strength is measured by how many freeloaders it can support. Look at how humankind has, so far, been able to continue groping forward despite being sucked dry by [fill in the blank with whatever awful groups torment your age].
The “creditor” always becomes more humane to the extent that he has grown richer; finally, how much injury he can endure without suffering from it becomes the actual measure of his wealth. It is not unthinkable that a society might attain such a consciousness of power that it could allow itself the noblest luxury possible to it—letting those who arm it go unpunished. “What are my parasites to me?” it might say. “May they live and prosper: I am strong enough for that!”
The justice which began with, “everything is dischargeable, everything must be discharged,” ends by winking and letting those incapable of discharging their debt go free: it ends, as does every good thing on earth, by overcoming itself. This self-overcoming of justice: one knows the beautiful name it has given itself—mercy; it goes without saying that mercy remains the privilege of the most powerful man, or better, “his—beyond the law”.
That's from Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals [2nd Essay, §10]. Now that I think about it, the creditor class has proven to do the opposite of what Nietzsche claims here; but it's easy to see that he is projecting his own genius onto them: the actual creditors lack character and are not distinguished, otherwise they wouldn't be creditors.
But back to the market. Buying and selling require there to be some tribe that’s not part of your own tribe – that’s why I dislike this game: it's all tedium and no fun. One would never charge one's own tribe for anything one can do for it; likewise one would never expect to PAY for any service that one's own tribe does for oneself. Think of how we all treat our families and neighbors: we waive off the idea of compensation as absurd, mean, even comical – it would get a laugh, if your neighbor were to ask to borrow, say, a gardening tool from you, and you were to reply by reciting to them your hourly rental rates. But the Big Box Tool Store down the road does exactly this: they have a schedule of fees and required monetary deposits that you’re expected to honor – that’s because the owners of the Big Box Tool Store are no part of your tribe, they’re not a member of your community (tho they go to great lengths to FEIGN to be one); so it’s not too strange that they demand a contract be signed & then charge you to use their tools. Even if your neighbor is the employee who happens to be working behind the counter, your neighbor acts towards you on behalf of the Big Box Tool Store and not on behalf of your neighborhood. But I am most interested in ENLARGING the group that I call my “friends, family, and neighbors”; so, if I’m successful, the whole world will be a part of my group, and thus I’ll have no one to buy or sell to.
Imagine meeting a person whom you’ll most likely never see again. In order to consider this person “part of your own group” and thus someone whom you freely share with and give to, rather than engage in market-style exchanges with, you’d need to have faith in their character. This is the right use of faith. Now, one might ask: Is faith distinguishable from gullibility? I hope so; but even if the answer is no, I’d rather be credulous than mean.
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