How being screwed by the banks is actually a 700 year old tradition

We've all been there, we've gone to the bank with the simple intention of transferring funds or closing an account, only to be met with a barrage of bureaucracy involving numerous staff, trips to the bank where they keep you waiting for twice as long as your appointment will last, and finally after several weeks and much cursing you achieve your 'simple' task. I've often remarked to a friend of mine how banks are awesome...when you're putting money in. Getting money out is a completely different matter. This was after being given the run-around by a bank when I wished to withdraw my ISA and close the account with them (the account was closed 6 months ago but to this day I receive a monthly statement, on an account they opened against my expressed wishes, to tell me I have a whopping 5p). My friend is involved in the running of several companies and has more than his fair share of horror stories involving banks. What I'm here to tell you is that this blatant screwing around by the banks is in fact a 700 year old tradition!

You see, everything must begin somewhere and most historians trace the root of modern banking to the Knights Templar, a religious military order during the Crusades. Most people will have at least heard of the Templar's, most notably in relation to numerous conspiracies such as in The Da Vinci Code or National Treasure. Anyone who cared to delve a little deeper into the history of the Templar's would find that many of these conspiracy theories were birthed by the Templar's meteoric rise to become one of the most powerful institutions in the world, followed by their equally swift fall and suppression. Whilst the reasons for this fall have been the subject of vast historical debate, for the purpose of this discussion they are irrelevant. What is important is that one of the charges levelled at the Templar's was sodomy and homosexuality. Whilst most historians agree that these, as well as the other charges, were baseless, given the actions of modern banks, it is easy to see how the ideals of screwing people in the arse has remained a central tenant of the banking industry.

As we all know, money makes the world go round, so one can guess the power of the Templar's who fulfilled the banking role over the rest of the organisation. Another aspect of the tradition which remains strong today, as governments around the world willingly bend over for the bankers to keep the money flowing rather than stand up to them and maybe help the people, the people who elected them and whom they supposedly serve. It seems absurd that today, countless millions of us use a system that has its origins in funding warfare.