Forgive Unfair Debts

Forgive Unfair Debts
Debt slavery has existed since before Christ, causing many religions to pronounce usury a sin. The ancient idea of a Debt Jubilee where debts are forgiven - for disadvantaged households or whole countries - is gaining new interest. People are finding new creative ways, such as Occupy’s Debt Jubilee, to get people out from under overwhelming debt.

Instead of massive student loans, credit card debt, national debt, etc., keeping individuals and whole countries enslaved by the need to engage in cash-producing activities to pay debt.

Earlier version noted that indentured service was part of the founding of American settlements - and had the following "Instead of" section (which needed to be much shorter to fit on the card).

Instead of: Current debt slavery in the form of student loans, credit card debt, mortgages, national debts, keeps many people, particularly youth, and whole countries focused on the highest cash-producing activities to service debt, as apposed to career growth, service, or developing a local economy to meet the needs of the country's people.

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Data and Statistics
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Resources and References

 * http://www.webofdebt.com/
 * http://www.jubileeusa.org/home.html
 * http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/a-jubilee-for-student-debt
 * http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/04/02/is-mortgage-debt-forgiveness-worth-the-moral-hazard/
 * Discussion:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_Debt_Coalition
 * http://theconversation.com/the-debt-jubilee-an-old-testament-solution-to-a-modern-financial-crisis-11816
 * http://dollarcollapse.com/inflation/has-the-debt-jubilee-already-started/
 * (con) http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/11/occupy-wall-streets-debt-jubilee-a-gimmick-with-tax-risk.html
 * http://www.occupy.com/article/you-are-not-loan-strike-debt-and-challenge-rolling-jubilee

Examples and Experiments

 * rollingjubilee.org
 * Returns, With a New Idea Occupy Returns, With a New Idea, New Yorker, Posted by Anna Altman

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