Should the USA have a debt jubilee like Germany did in 1947?

[KWR65]

This virus is not going away and there is no cure. Millions of renters starting in September will have debts they can not possible pay. A debt jubilee could be applied to renters and land owners that cater to renters. IMHO. YMMV.

[NCjack]

1. Yes. The capitalist system needs a fast correction. That will do it.

[Newest Reality]

2. It would help maybe, but...

It would help, maybe, but it won't happen at all ever.

Disaster capitalism and vulture capitalism both take care of the spoils and bleed out what's left in a situation like this. Neo-liberalism can be brutal when there is money to be made on the way up and on the way down. Vulture capitalism, (like payday lending as only a simple example) will pick any meat left on our bones and then grind them up to make bread, so to speak.

Note the billionaires getting more billionairedyish and the market holding on, (which may change). There is also a pennies on the dollar potential for those with enough leverage and liquidity.

The wealthy win, especially if they can stay sequestered and eventually create a breakaway society.

[Moostache]

3. I am all for the concept of the jubilee...and sabbaticals.

The world would be a better place and society served better by implementing these ideals.

First - trans-generational wealth is an objective evil. Inherited wealth and power do not serve the public good or the health of the nation-state in any conceivable way. Upon death, an estate over $10M should be taxed at a 95% marginal rate and increase every $10M to a maximum of 99.9%, with NO EXCEPTIONS or carve outs or deductions.

The first $10M of an estate should pass to the heirs upon the death of the last living member of any couple or the death of the estate holder. Beyond that though, the money should be paid into taxes that would be required to go directly into community renewal uses - roads, bridges, schools, infrastructure projects and scholarship funds. The estate holders should have some say over where the funds are primarily distributed, but no power to reduce the tax or decline to pay it for any reasons.

Second - the idea that debt should be handed out to people indiscriminately and with the intent of creating wage slaves should likewise become illegal. Companies extending credit to borrowers beyond the ability to repay in a legitimate manner or at a non-usury rate of interest SHOULD be punished for what they do, not lauded. Creating a permanently indebted underclass is a great contributor to the societal inequities seen all over the developed world.

A forced forgiveness of the unsecured debts of millions would immediately revive a consumer-driven economy's ability to circulate capital. The current bastardized capitalism system is simply not able to do anything more than function as a top line wealth concentrator - with the accumulation of more and more to ewer and fewer people. As the wealth gap grows, the country fades...

Finally, the option of a 7th year of rest and rejuvenation, on the heels of 6 of working, is partially reflected in our 40 hour work weeks - and expectations; but its not really the same as how valuable a year's pursuit of things outside of a normal career arc would be if broadly applied to all.

[Laelth]

4. I favor a jubilee. n/t

-Laelth

[enid602]

5. Jubilee

Just as the Germans celebrated Hitler's fall with a debt jubilee, we should do the same with regard to Trump's.