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@NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io

2026-11-01 11:01 UTC

What do a Mafioso, an ancient Mesopotamian temple and a Roman aristocrat have in common? Crossposted from https://fedia.io/m/historymemes@piefed.social/t/4518293 David Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 years in a memeshell (actually no the book is about much more than that). What a meme with no implications for contemporary politics whatsoever.

Replies (1)

  • @tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz 2026-11-01 13:34

    I appreciate the sentiment, but this is absolutely not how it works. Obligation to pay back debts is essential to have a functional financial system, which in turn is needed in order to people be able to consume today (buy houses, start businesses) at the expense of tomorrow. If you start cancelling debt, or forcing government to pay it back, you create wrong incentives and either stifle the money supply or cause debt bubbles. Where the criticism should go is, why do people need to take on debt in the first place? Education should not require it, the state should invest in its people and pay for it. Housing should be cheap enough that rent should be affordable on a minimum-wage paycheck. Or supported by the government if unemployed. Debt should only be needed for investing in the future, not covering essential spending. But it should be still possible and it should be expected that it’s paid back.

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