David Graeber, Sonali Kolhatkar (Uprising); MR; Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly
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| Your money is mine, folks. You owe it to me in the form of work or credit payments. |
David Graeber, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College at the
University of London reveals the roots of our credit and debt system in his book, Debt: The First 5000 Years.
How have the
concepts of "debt" and "credit" been defined in human history? "Debt" is synonymous with the words "sin" and "guilt" in many languages.
It is something we feel bad and ashamed about. It is a very real kind of "slavery." In English the word "addict" -- like the things we're addicted to -- comes from the Latin addictus, a "debt-slave" assigned and handed over to someone to pay off a debt.
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| Cash only, debtor. Thank you. |
What does this
mean for our current credit crisis and the future of our economy? Most people are in overwhelming debt by design. It is no accident, no personal weakness. Debtors are targeted into a kind of very real slavery.
"I owe, I owe, so off to work I go." And if I have no work to go to, there's poverty, crime, and for-profit jails and prisons waiting so capitalists can make money from my detention and trauma.
Audio-book of Debt: The First 5,000 Years (25%), PDF: libcom.org
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