I do not, so can't speak to that. But so what if the problem is banking practices or usury or exploitation? Jews don't have a monopoly on that. The Christian nobles made a pretty fair go of it for awhile there.
Unfortunately, usary and fractional reserve banking is the root of all societal woes.
The Christian nobles absolutely did NOT practice usary. They were forbidden to do so under penalty of excommunication.
There are plenty of greedy assholes around. Some are Jewish and some aren't. Some Jews are selfish dickheads and some are nice guys.
Agreed.
It's inaccurate to equate the Jews with the problem of greed.
I am not equating jews with greed. I am stating that the practice of usary and the trade of banking was done by the Jewish goldsmiths and silversmiths. It is from these trades that we derive the literal translations of these surnames Goldstein & Silverstein.
However, as with any group of people, the slimey slithery ones get away, leaving the innocent to pick up the tab. Just as we saw in 2008, Wall Street got bailed out, while Main Street got stuck with the bill.
These days however, Christian churches do not excommunicate for banking, so you will see many prominent bankers who today are not Jewish.
A better economist than myself might even make the case that the development of Europe would have suffered without the Jews since any sort of trade beyond barter & swap requires a banking and credit system, so it's a good thing someone was there to do it. That being said, I don't even know what role Jews played in European financial systems.
You are somewhat correct in your assessment, despite not knowing the role played. The Europe we now know post 'Renaissance' would most definitely have suffered. Whether that re-birth was actually the birth of a syphilitic bastard instead of the healthy bundle of a joy it could have been without the role of the bankers we may never know. While the practice of fractional reserve banking was recognized as destructive, European legislators at the time turned a blind eye, cut everyone in on the action via interest payments on deposits, and legalized it, in order to provide "liquidity" for the TransAtlantic Slave Trade.
In their effort to colonize and enslave an entire continent, they opened the door to usary, and the sale of debt, just a little bit, ...and now all hell is about to break loose ... AGAIN!
Are you guys an ethnicity or a religion?
Here's the thing... they are both.
Judaism is a religion, ...however, the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews we see today are actually an ethnicity. They are Asiatic Khazars who adopted Judaism circa 1066, as a means to maintain the balance of power between warring Christian & Islamic factions. Alone, they were neither powerful enough to defeat the Christians or the Muslims. If they sided with the Christians, they could collectively beat the muslims, but would have to be subserviant to the Christian. Same if they sided with the Muslims. Combined, they could be powerful enough to beat the Christians, but would have to be subserviant to the Muslims. As a separate group however, they had the ability to play one side against the other, and curry favour to their advantage. A great book detailing this is called "The Thirteenth Tribe" by Arthur Koestler.
Arthur Koestler was an 'Ashkenazi Jew' who wanted to know why it was that his people have been so reviled throughout history. He went on a quest to discover the roots of this, and what he discovered shook him to his core. He wrote about it in "The Thirteenth Tribe"
As a result of this schizophrenia within the "Jewish" community vis-a-vis "Jewish identity", there are those who view Judaism as a religion, ...and those (mainly Zionists) who view Judaism, as an ethnicity, and will do everything in their power to blur the lines of division, just as they attempt to blur the lines of division between Zionism & Judaism.
If you are to truly view Judaism as an ethnicity, don't look to the Ashkenazi (more accurately known as the Khazars) they are far from Jewish. You need to turn your sites to Africa if you're in search of genuine hebrew israelites.
Like if I want to become a Christian I can just roll up at a church and sign up, I guess, and I'd be considered as Christian as the next church member. Can anyone just walk into a synagogue and become a convert? I get the impression that a convert would be regarded as being somehow less Jewish than someone with Jewish lineage?