Summary:
Arguing that debt pre-dates actual money as the basis of human economic life, this book views the last 5,000 years of lending and monetary policy through the lense of anthropology, assessing concepts from ancient debt slavery to the current mortgage crisis like practices and traditions from foreign cultures. The author, an outspoken anarchist, who is also one of the central thinkers behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, uses detailed historical and sociological evidence to show that despite the assumptions of Adam Smith and the explicit statements of nearly every economics text book, human society did not evolve from a barter based economy to using coins, because such barter based economies have never existed in any real sense. Instead, prior to the development of money (and in periods of monetary collapse, such as the Medieval Age) gift giving developed into credit and lending systems of incredible complexity, Rather than such debt being considered a sin, was instead viewed as a glue holding society together. Money, more accurately gold and silver bullion, arose during periods of great violence, since unlike credit it could be stolen and plundered by invading armies, who then needed to spend their loot. The author proceeds to argue that starting in the 17th Century and culminating in 1971 when the U.S. went off the gold standard, economic policy and financial lending has systematically been used to human obligations and responsibilities, which can never truly be cancelled or even repaid, into debts, which can be tallied, created ex nihilo, and used to reduce human lives to a dollar amount (whether overtly through chattel slavery or by the hour as a wage.)
This is a truly fascinating book that is not only incredibly broad in its scope, but also very timely given the author’s involvement in the OWS movement and the current economic crises shaking the world. And while the author is unflinching in his radicalism, this is not a doctrinal anarchist screed, instead pointing out how the common ground with disparate groups including libertarian Tea Partiers, Evangelical Christians and Islamic lenders, while criticizing tradition icons on the Left and Right.
Interesting trivia:
In 2400 B.C.E., King Enmetena of Lagash, a city in Mesopotamia, ordered the first cancellation of consumer debts, a tradition that continued among rulers in the Fertile Crescent and forms the basis for the Biblical Year of Jubilee found in Deuteronomy 15:1-3. King Enmetena, Mythical Founder of NACBA.
The Rosetta Stone, which was written in Greek (two types) and Egyptian and allowed the deciphering of hieroglyphics, was raised to announce an amnesty for debtors in 196 B.C.E.- basically a bankruptcy discharge order.
Complaining of Roman debt collectors in 100 CE, Plutarch wrote of "usurers, bringing boxes full of schedules, bills and obligatory contracts, as so many irons and fetters for the shackling of poor criminals...." The difference now it that the debtors have boxes (and more likely grocery bags) full of schedules, bills and contracts and the usurers, ahem, creditors can’t seem to locate a the notes or loan applications.
Creditors in the Indian State of Bengal used to "purchase" ghosts in secret markets as debt collectors to terrorize debtors into paying. Its not clear whether this would violate the FDCPA, since a debt collector must be a "person" and that might not extend to spirits.
For a copy of Debt: The First 5,000 Years, please see:
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber at Amazon.com
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