Conversations w/ Great Minds - Dr. David Graeber Debt: The 1st 5000 years P2

Dr. David Graeber, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London on his book - Debt: The First 5000 years. The First 5000 years. How the concepts of debt and credit have defined human history and what this means for our current credit crisis and the future of our economy.

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  News & Politics

[Cabronosidad]

Wow, great interview. Debt peonage is the problem. Jubilee is the solution. Don''t hold your breath though folks. They haven't finished plundering the western economies just yet. Lanterns & pitchforks anyone?

[Rupert Russell]

What is the issue with this statement?

[mrmalabi]

cool, he literally predicted occupy wall street one week before its start

[r3bol]

I never really realised this. If the banks are holding your country to ransom, kick out the banks. The countries that did, seem to be better off without them (after a few years at least).

[Byenia]

Exactly what he said right there, about 9:15: if the bailout money had bailed out the "little people" (those in debt with mortgages), not only would we common people be better off, the banks would've been paid off too in the process. It would have been a win-win, and yet....no, oh no, couldn't do that, no way. Doesn't suit the interests of lenders, politicians and other rich people or the corporations they seek refuge within.

Makes no sense that we haven't impeached all of Congress by now.

[John Drain]

Yea well they didn't, did they. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. We live under the rule of state corporations so the bailout was inevitable however it isn't working, it wasn't supposed to work in the way we wanted. Such things like a Jubilee have worked in the past but often implicated too late. Certainly that's what will happen if we go with the pitchfork method, which is only a matter of time if we continue on the present path.

[Ken MacMillan]

A debt jubilee rewards bad fiscal decisions and punishes good fiscal decisions. The banks should never have gotten a dime either. The government should have just came out and said we've all over spent and now it's time to get out of debt and rebuild our economy. Then they should have led the way by eliminating the deficit and reducing the debt while encouraging people to do the same.

[pirucreek]

Then why don't you build that house and sell it for $1500? I will buy one. The reality is if you don't make the payments it goes back to the rightful owners the depositors in a bank. The poor gandma that earned her money at $1 per hour. We have a nation of losers like this guy and I glad he was canned. The Kohl brothers are the real heroes.

[avulgarpicture001]

Because that would stave off the inevitable bloody peasant uprising? I'm not sure I get where your priorities are coming from. That's sort of the funny thing, the $500,000 for a house doesn't reflect the real material and labor cost of the house. In fact that $1000 is a lot closer to the real cost than $500,000 is (which isn't really a stretch to think about because of the discrepancy). And, well, living in a house is nice, and things that cost less are nice. The world wouldn't implode.