
Read the whole thing, but this paragraph caught my eye:
Why is it that a promise made by a politician to the people that elected them—to provide free education for instance—has a less moral standing than the promise that politician has made to a banker? It seems insane. But it’s simply assumed nowadays.
Perhaps one of our Nobelists will address it.....
NOTE And now go read, or re-read, lets's excellent and very detailed explanation of a debt jubilee.
If you liked this post, buy the author some books.- lambert's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 1+[CSE]+#b94+


Front page




Comments
"A coin is just a promise"
I ended my Graeber piece on his last essay "Kamikaze Capitalism" with his discussion of money and debt and which promises should be kept. Here's the final paragraph of the essay.
In this interview and in his book "Debt, The First 5000 Years", he talks a lot about his experience researching in Madagascar. The villagers needed a well, so they built in themselves rather than trying to get "a grant" or borrowing. That would incur debt. The idea of parallel governing has caught on with OWS. The declaration of human rights says that everyone should be entitled to a safe and healthy roof over their head. There are plenty of empty homes, so why not put people in them?
(I love the story of the Occupiers in Seattle who built structures with rope and timbers when they were informed they could not use nails. Another example of imagination like the Aquapy rafts in Oakland. Makes me smile.)
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
Got a link on the rope and timbers story?
It's awesome!
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
First hand reporting on Western Coastal Occupies is awesome
I meant to do this as a Quick Hit- Wild Wild West Coast
By CHRIS FARAONE | November 23, 2011
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
"The Art of Being Ungoverned" (book) might interest
anyone who found Graeber's discussion of Madagascar interesting.
"Ethnic groups" that are actually past social movements that succeeded to some degree.
Examples of how others have used human creativity rather than fight on the fronts where the elites can unleash their violence.