Subject:
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Re: A hypothetical economics question...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 27 Feb 2002 23:30:13 GMT
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Viewed:
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236 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
> What would happen if all debts public and private were just plain
> cancelled as of, say, 1/1/2002?
Dave! are you coming over to the "Fight Club" side of debate? This is
exactly what happens at the end of the movie...my fav part.
This is all part of an ancient custom, in the bible it is known as The Feast
of Jubilee -- its celebration included the forgiveness of debts every 50
years. Its association with the ram horn suggests the symbolism of the
"horn of plenty" or cornucopia, so I suspect pagan origins for this custom
as is usual for biblical rites.
What would happen if debt forgiveness actually occurred? What would happen
is that some extremely wealthy people would be reduced to living on "cash on
hand" and all means of collecting usury would start again at zero. People
would generally have to return to labor in order to obtain value for trade.
The whole ebb and flow of the current economy is predicated on the
collection of interest over time. Obviously, debt forgiveness would never
occur under the current power structure.
There was an interesting bit last night during the radio program
"Marketplace" for 26 FEB 2002 (http://www.marketplace.org/). An author was
interviewed on the subject of how the means of trade are created or some
such thing, and he talked a lot about how durable products, like salted
goods and cheese (converting spoil-able milk into a durable), were the
primary means of trade in ancient times. Salt in particular was valued very
highly as an important yet presumably scarce resource. Obviously, salt is
actually plentiful and need never have been valued so highly except for its
obvious associations with maintaining human life -- no more or less
important than water or oxygen. I feel the same overvaluation has occurred
in relation to usury as a means of fueling the economy -- it's basically a
means of enslaving the less well off and allowing the "already" wealthy to
live in luxury. Instead of trading value for value, the wealthy are able to
trade value for value plus 20% (plus captilized interest, etc.) -- and it
can prove very difficult to get out from under the vicious cycle of that 20%
burden. I suppose it bears mentioning that usury was once illegal in
america, but I can't recall the specific years when the economic tide turned
on this issue.
I'd like to see something even the playing field, but I don't expect to ever
see it happen. History teaches us that no one will give away that which has
been won only by force or threat of violence. The Feast of Jubilee is a
dead custom that must be asserted by the impoverished, because it will never
be given freely from the hands of the wealthy.
> I'm also aware that international debt would still need to be addressed,
> and that the debate over the appropriate as-of date would be phenomenal.
> Any thoughts?
Why would a special category exist for the national debt? We could just
renegotiate it as do other rollover countries.
The sleeper must awaken...
-- Hop-Frog
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: A hypothetical economics question...
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| (...) It's a nifty visual, I agree. I'm still not sold on the film for a number of other reasons, but who wouldn't love the idea of someone swooping in to negate our debts for us? Ignoring for a moment the problem of destruction of private property (...) (23 years ago, 28-Feb-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | A hypothetical economics question...
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| What would happen if all debts public and private were just plain cancelled as of, say, 1/1/2002? I choose an already-passed date so that there couldn't be a mad dash to accrue huge debt in hope that it would be eliminated. In all seroiusness, what (...) (23 years ago, 27-Feb-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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