{"id":11220,"date":"2019-03-02T11:30:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T19:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=11220"},"modified":"2019-03-02T11:30:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T19:30:27","slug":"earth-shattering-book-argues-that-ancients-routinely-did-what-our-government-should-do-give-debtors-a-clean-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/03\/02\/earth-shattering-book-argues-that-ancients-routinely-did-what-our-government-should-do-give-debtors-a-clean-slate\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEarth-shattering\u201d book argues that ancients routinely did what our government should do: give debtors a clean slate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\"Public<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

posted by PUBLIC BANKING INST<\/strong> | 8gb<\/em>
February 28, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"and<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo courtesy Michael Hudson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Hudson, one of the few economists<\/a> who accurately predicted the Great Recession, has written a book \u2014 \u2026and Forgive Them Their Debts<\/em><\/a> \u2014 that caused John Siman to remark in Naked Capitalism<\/em><\/a>: \u201cTo grasp his central argument is so alien to our modern way of thinking \u2026 that Hudson quite matter-of-factly agreed with me that the book is \u2026 \u2018earth-shattering\u2019 in both intent and effect.\u201d Hudson\u2019s central argument is that, again and again, century after century, forgiveness of debts had been a necessary cornerstone of successful civilizations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fact could not have been known until now, until twentieth century scholars of ancient Mesopotamia completed their archaeological and philological analyses \u2026 and Michael Hudson digested the scholarship to conclude that, \u201cThe Bible is preoccupied with debt, not sin.\u201d Hudson explains in a recent interview<\/a> with Dr Simon Radford:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem today is that the debts are not owed to the Nazis [as was the case in 1947\/48]: they are owed to the banks, and the richest layer of the population.\u201d But history, mathematics, and economic logic all point in the same direction: it is only a clean slate that can restore economic vitality.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In light of Hudson’s plea to heed the lessons of the ancients, the case for public banks becomes even more clear: when credit is issued by government, not by private interests, subsequent debt can and should be easily forgiven when needed so that all may benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hudson’s interview article continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people today \u201cdon\u2019t understand the linguistics of debt and sin\u201d, [Hudson] says. \u201cAgain and again, Jesus denounces the creditors: they were the sinners, not the debtors. That\u2019s the most important message that he had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book was selected for the Best Books of 2018: Economics by the Financial Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Read the full Naked Capitalism article<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Read the full interview with Dr. Simon Radford<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Watch related video: On Contact with Chris Hedges<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

posted by PUBLIC BANKING INST | 8gbFebruary 28, 2019 Photo courtesy Michael Hudson Michael Hudson, one of the few economists who accurately predicted the Great Recession, has written a book \u2014 \u2026and Forgive Them Their Debts \u2014 that caused John Siman to remark in Naked Capitalism: \u201cTo grasp his central argument is so alien to our modern way… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11221,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220\/revisions\/11221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}