responsible credit
HOME   IMPRINT - ECRC   PRIVACY POLICY   SITEMAP   | ECRC IN THE MEDIA |
Search OK

 
Home
Principles of Responsible Credit - "Once upon a time there were wolves and sheep in a big forest. ... A Fairy Tale why Principles can be of Help
PRINCIPLES OF RESPONSIBLE CREDIT – A FAIRY TALE

THE WOLVES EAT THE SHEEP

Once upon a time there were wolves and sheep in a big forest. The wolves hunted the sheep and had a lazy life while the sheep tried to escape extermination by increased reproduction.

THE WOLVES LED THE SHEEP LIVE AND WORK

But this did not suffice so that the wolves recognised that their hunting was increasingly unsuccessful. An old wolf told them that they should better use the wool
and the milk of the sheep and only some of their meat so that their number would remain stable. He called this „sustainable development“. So the wolves kept sheep alive but under slave-like conditions.

BEARS, FOXES AND THE LION COME AND WANT A SHARE

The system broke down when bears foxes and lions from another forest came and wanted a share. As all sheep were already in the hands of the wolves the other animals threatened to start hunting again. Under this pressure all hunters agreed that they each should get a fair part of the sheep. But how could hungry and greedy hunters agree to a just distribution?

THE LION GIVES THE RIGHT OF FREE CHOICE TO THE SHEEP

A clever lion knowing that in case he would be hungry he could even eat a wolf or a fox proposed to let the sheep themselves decide to whom they would give their milk, wool and some meat. The sheep celebrated this as a great victory for their individual freedoms and survival although some of them would still be eaten under the new system.

THE HUNTERS CREATE A CARTEL

Soon the wolves attracted sheep by promising them hay, grass and meadows for feeding if they would choose the wolves. When the other animals followed their example the lion recognised that they would finally end in a sheep governed society. So they proposed to limit offers to the sheep through agreements that forbid excessive rewards.

THE SHEEP CREATE A CARTEL – THE HUNTERS START HUNTING AGAIN UNTIL THE SHEEP GIVE UP

The sheep who normally are supposed to be quite simple minded reacted with on own cartel which led to the foundation of the first sheep union. It taught its members to squeeze out better rewards collectively refusing to exercise their right of informed choice. This brought the sheep back into a powerful position which really threatened the dominance of the hunters again. This is why the hunters agreed to start hunting again and take sheep back into a slave-like condition until they would show more respect again which happened quite soon when the sheep experienced their total unsafety.

THE HUNTERS CREATE THE LAW

After the success of this brutal intermezzo the freedoms of sheep were reestablished and the sheep developed collective and social rights while the hunters developed property rights, the international monetary fund and balanced budget amendmends.

THE SHEEP NEED MORE HAY FOR THEIR FUTURE

They even got the intimidated sheep to overtake more responsibility for an increased production of wool milk and meat and offered them candy and other advanced products. The sheep had to invest an increasing share of their rewards into their lamb raising, develop more mobility looking for meadows far from their families and even grew their own hay and dig for their water holes. Sheep families could no longer help each other and resources became scarce – an opportunity to make them even work harder.

THE FOXES INVENT HAY AND CANDY ADVANCEMENT

But the foxes whose Calvinistic religion helped them to think ahead of the wolves had a brilliant idea. They promised the sheep to offer not only rewards for wool, milk and meat but give them some more hay, meadows and opportunities in advance for which they could work later if they only would choose the foxes. The sheep massively seized this opportunity which solved their actual problems. A massive flow of sheep to the foxes started so that the wolves had to act likewise.
THE LAZY LIONS CREATE SPECIAL HAY INSTITUTIONS, HIRE SOME UNTAMED WOLVES AND SOME SHEEP START TO SUFFER

The lions whose laziness is proverbial created institutions that would only do the hay advancement business. The system worked out quite differently for the sheep. Most profited, some fell ill, others could not produce milk because their males had left them alone with their lambs while others in a draught did not find enough grass to grow their wool. The Lions anxious to get their hay back hired some wolves and freed them from their oath not to hunt in case sheep did not pay back which led to a sometimes terrible revival of old hunting habits.

EACH SHEEP THINKS IT WILL ESCAPE

This time the sheep who had been kept stupid due to a poor sheep education system separate from the schools for young hunters did not take collective action. Most of them thought that only careless sheep would be exposed to the hunting of the wolves, others hoped that they would not be afflicted by such problems. Those finally who showed signs of fear or anger and identified with their poor fellow sheep were offered insurance against hair loss and lack of milk. But such insurance (which was carefully kept secret to them) was extremely disadvantageous and put them into just the situation which they wanted to evade.

THE LION INVENTS RULES TO WARN THE SHEEP AND OFFERS AN (INEFFECTIVE) COMPLAINT SYSTEM

The Lions also made a law that should equally be valid in all forests which they called sheep protection law. It required that all wolves and foxes and bears had to warn all sheep about the hay advancement system, teach them in special advancement education courses that it was their own choice if the wolves would eat them. They also made rules that prevented their rented wolves from committing the worst atrocities giving sheep an individual right to complain to the Lions. Although nobody complained because the procedure was lengthy and costly all hunters praised the Lions for their wisdom, generosity and charity for weak and stupid sheep. Sheep protection became a leading legal principle. The Lions also liberated those sheep who anyhow would never be able to pay back the hay from their debt burden after a long period of suffering which they though would prevent others from defaulting (which of course did not change neither their risks nor their future fate so that their relieve was more visible than substantial.)

PRINCIPLES FOR SHEEP POWER FOR RESPONSIBLE HAY ADVANCEMENT

In this situation some sheep who had been selected by the lions to become sheep supervisors and had been send to the hunters‘ schools of higher education remembered ther origin and created a coalition of sheep which put up principles of sustainable hay advancement. They required more trustworthiness of lions. Because in Latin the word for trust had been “creditum” they called them “Principles of Responsible Credit”.

ID: 39997
Author(s): UR
Publication date: 27/07/07
   
URL(s):

Speech held at the Law and Society Association's Meeting in Berlin 2007
 

Created: 06/08/07. Last changed: 06/08/07.
Information concerning property and copy right of the content will be given by the Institut For Financial Services (IFF) on demand. A lack of explicit information on this web site does not imply any right for free usage of any content.