First: because interest is geometrically compounded, it is a mathematical inevitability that loans become unpayable. This happens because the loan obligation keeps increasing, while the real economy that provides repayment tends to stabilize. It is so mathematically inevitable that Albert Einstein replied “What is the most powerful force in the universe?” with “compound interest”.
the authority over jubilees is Michael hudson, whose recent book “…and forgive them their debts”Tells the (ancient) story of jubilees in detail. (The link on Hudson’s name points to something shorter on this topic.) There is some controversy as to whether the jubilees were implemented, but only because archaeological economists would have deliberately misinterpreted the cuneiform rather than admitting that jubilees have taken place.

Hudson, who read the original documents, says that ancient civilizations really did have jubilees, starting with Babylon. He focuses on the meaning of the title of his book in economic terms, not in terms of behavior. Bible scholars I have heard say that a more accurate translation is “debts” rather than “offenses” … so maybe he’s right.

In any case, the ancient Babylonians knew the inevitability of unpaid debts… before the Jews. Apparently, the Jubilee was something the Jews brought back from the Babylonian exile. Babylonian rulers traditionally declared a jubilee when they succeeded their predecessor. This earned them a healthy dose of goodwill and kept their people from becoming debt slaves, who could not be warriors, which also aided the common defense of their kingdom. Jubilees were a little easier than they would be in modern times, as most of the debt was owed to the temple / palace complex rather than the private sector. Current student loans are analogous, even though the MBNA senator (Joe Biden) voted to make them impossible to extinguish even in bankruptcy.

Hudson says Jesus’ first sermon, in which he proclaimed it to be “the year of our Lord” (reading from Isaiah) was a statement that it was time to forgive debts – and remission of economic debts. , not just sinful thoughts or behaviors, was central to his ministry. The Romans opposed Jesus’ system of forgiveness and had no bankruptcy, much less a regular jubilee or other accommodation for inevitably unpayable debts. The Pharisees came to an understanding with the Romans. Read Matthew 23 to see how Jesus felt about the Pharisees.

Hudson says the Pharisee Rabbi Hillel was trying to rewrite the IOUs so that they were exempt from the traditional jubilee. The temple changers were intimately involved in this cycle of crushing debtors to the last penny, resulting in an unusually angry Jesus knocking over their tables.

The question from Babylon today is: what to do with unpaid loans? For the Romans, as for the “furniture maker” in the post-Civil War South, debtors become debt slaves or peons. The Federal Reserve reports that 40% of the current US population cannot handle a $ 400 emergency without borrowing or selling something… so the debt peonage is still with us.

Jubilees are not always old either. The victorious allies of World War II granted jubilees of debt to the German and Japanese populations, and thus laid the foundations for their “miraculous” economic recoveries. Strangely enough, they did not grant such a jubilee to the Vietnamese, who were part of the allied opposition to the Japanese in Southeast Asia.

Prior to World War II, Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh fought to shake off the chains of indebtedness to the French colonials and their local oligarchy, also successfully until the end of the World War. By renouncing its conventional obligations to hold a plebiscite to unite Vietnam, the United States attempted to reinstall the peonage of French colonial debt for which the Vietnamese fought so hard. This is one of the main motivations of the Vietnamese to fight so hard against a much richer and better armed United States (see War comes to Long An by Jeffrey Race… a guy who learned Vietnamese on the boat, then interviewed the people rather than huddling in a “strategic hamlet”… to see what really motivated them.)

While considering financial matters, you can also take a look at Corruption in America and its challenges by Sarah Chayes for an overview of the legitimacy of the debts that the former colonial powers of the North continue to try to collect (or, failing that, those of Tom Perkins Confessions of an economic hitman). In Debt: the first 5,000 years, David Graeber tells how the French invaded Madagascar and told the natives they were in debt (for their lives)… then proceeded to collect. Same story in Haiti today impoverished.

Graeber said Western banks are prescribing austerity (the IMF released a staff document saying it didn’t work, but ignored it), even for loans in Madagascar today. Due to such austerity, the government ended its mosquito eradication program. 10,000 natives died of malaria so that the former colony could pay off a loan the bank could easily have lost.

I also recently read that between $ 1,000 billion and $ 2,000 billion to this day still circulate from the former colonies to their former colonial masters. The World Bank, the IMF and many NGOs allow this. Heck, in homage to ignorance, the Methodist “Social Principles” still prescribe “balanced budgets” and spending restraint (austerity). For a more complete explanation, read this.

One point that Chayes makes that really resonated with me: Muslims in the Middle East are not that enamored with religious fanaticism. It is the corruption of the Karzai government installed by the United States that pushes the population into the arms of the Taliban, not the population’s affinity for Islamic extremism.

Marc Dempsey
It’s easier than it looks