General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRolling Jubilee: Buying Up Distressed Debt, Occupy Offshoot Bails Out the People, Not the Banks
watch, listen: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/15/rolling_jubilee_buying_up_distressed_debt
An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street has launched a new movement called "Rolling Jubilee" to buy distressed debt from financial firms, often for pennies on the dollar, and then canceling it so that borrowers do not have to repay. The people who incurred the debt in the first place then get a certified letter informing them they are off the hook. Typically, financial institutions sell debt for pennies on the dollar to third parties who either try to collect on it or bundle it up for resale. However, the Rolling Jubilee activists say they are buying up the debt in order to "liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal." Tonight, Rolling Jubilee is holding a sold-out benefit concert in New York City to continue its anti-debt fundraising. The group says it has already raised $129,000 through online donations, which is enough to buy approximately $2.5 million worth of defaulted loans, due to their steep markdowns. Were joined by Pamela Brown, a Ph.D. student in sociology at the New School and one of the organizers of the Rolling Jubilee. She also is participating in the Occupy Sandy efforts to organize local relief efforts to people hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy. (Transcript to come. Check back soon.)
Guest:
Pamela Brown, Ph.D. student in sociology at the New School and one of the organizers of Strike Debt, which recently launched Rolling Jubilee.
Blue Meany
(1,947 posts)When a bank auctioned off a farm, all the farmer's neighbors showed up to make sure no dared to bid on it. Then one of them gave a lowball bid, bought it, and returned it to the farmer.
Vox Moi
(546 posts)I haven't yet found answers to these questions:
What types of debt are going to be targeted? (not student loans ... they are guaranteed)
How can contributions be targeted to the debt we intend to target? (what debt instruments will be purchased)?
How might banks and lenders respond to a new market influence?
Unintended consequences department...
In the Democracy Now tape there was the story about people buying children out of slavery, which increased the demand for child slaves, which increased the supply of child slaves. Apocryphal but pertinent in a 'free-market' society.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Name of person(s) who are behind the organization name?