but it's a serious question. as i said earlier, it was the topic of dinner party conversation once among friends. being totally ignorant of how it works, as most people are, what the hell would happen if debt was just cancelled. hit the reset button. jordan tells me the question is too stupid for an answer.... alrighty then!
At 02:59 PM 1/19/2012, Carrol Cox wrote:
>Of course the question is not whether or not some form of debt cancellation
>would be a good thing. That's for chatting.
>
>Let's say it would be. Who is going to make 'them' do it. Arguments are just
>art for art's sake. They don't butter any parsnips.
>
>Carrol
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
>On Behalf Of shag carpet bomb
>Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 1:50 PM
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] the Grundrisse and credit
>
>but what would happen if we just said, "Ok, if you owe money -
>everyone, every insitution, every corporation - you no longer own
>money. Bang. Reset!"
>
>The economists usually freak out right? They say, OMG, all that money
>once paid to servicing debt can be spent on other things. The economy
>will heat up. All hell will break lose.
>
>is that the story? (I'm at work and don't have all email, bunch was
>deleted off server, so may have missed a fuller answer).
>
>
><> Doug writes:
><>
><>> A debt jubilee now would lead to total financial collapse.
><>> U.S. households alone hold $47 trillion in financial assets.
><>> Imagine what would happen if even 1/4 of those went poof.
><>
><> Wait, you're talking about cancelling all assets? I thought we were
><> talking about debt? Household debt was more like $11.5T as of 2Q11?
><> Housing was $8.5T of that, so there's "only" about $3T of unsecured
><> debt.
><>
><> I still say what needs to happen is greater access to refinancing.
><> That
><> would also incur a hit to bank profits, but it ought to be more
><> orderly -- and frankly, fair.
><>
><> /jordan
><>
><> ___________________________________
><> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
><>
>
>
>--
>http://cleandraws.com
>Wear Clean Draws
>('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)
>
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)