The Debt Age


Book Description

This collection of essays, by some of the most distinguished public intellectuals and cultural critics in America explores various dimensions of what it means to live in the age of debt. They ask, what is the debt age? For that matter, what is debt? Is its meaning transhistorical or transcultural? Or is it imbued in ideology and thus historically contingent? What is the relationship between debt and theory? Whose debt is acknowledged and whose is ignored? Who is the paradigmatic subject of debt? How has debt affected contemporary academic culture? Their responses to these and other aspects of debt are sure to become required reading for anyone who wants to understand what it means to live in the debt age.




A Nation Wholly Free


Book Description

"When President James Monroe announced in his 1824 message to Congress that the [nation's] large public debt, [accumulated since the Revolution], would be extinguished on January 1, 1835, Congress crafted legislation to transform that prediction into reality. Yet John Quincy Adams, Monroe's successor, seemed not to share the commitment to debt freedom, resulting in the rise of opposition to his administration and his defeat for reelection in the bitter presidential campaign of 1828. The new president, Andrew Jackson, was thoroughly committed to debt freedom, and when it was achieved, it became the only time in American history when the country carried no national debt. Lane shows that the great and disparate issues that confronted Jackson, such as internal improvements, the 'war' against the Second Bank of the United States, and the crisis surrounding South Carolina's refusal to pay federal tariffs, become unified when debt freedom is understood as a core element of Jacksonian Democracy."--




Republic of Debtors


Book Description

Debt was an inescapable fact of life in early America. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, its sinfulness was preached by ministers and the right to imprison debtors was unquestioned. By 1800, imprisonment for debt was under attack and insolvency was no longer seen as a moral failure, merely an economic setback. In Republic of Debtors, authorBruce H. Mann illuminates this crucial transformation in early American society.




Debt as Power


Book Description

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Debt as power is a timely and innovative contribution to our understanding of one of the most prescient issues of our time: the explosion of debt across the global economy and related requirement of political leaders to pursue exponential growth to meet the demands of creditors and investors. The book is distinctive in offering a historically sensitive and comprehensive analysis of debt as an interconnected and global phenomenon.




Lending to the Borrower from Hell


Book Description

What the loans and defaults of a sixteenth-century Spanish king can tell us about sovereign debt today Why do lenders time and again loan money to sovereign borrowers who promptly go bankrupt? When can this type of lending work? As the United States and many European nations struggle with mountains of debt, historical precedents can offer valuable insights. Lending to the Borrower from Hell looks at one famous case—the debts and defaults of Philip II of Spain. Ruling over one of the largest and most powerful empires in history, King Philip defaulted four times. Yet he never lost access to capital markets and could borrow again within a year or two of each default. Exploring the shrewd reasoning of the lenders who continued to offer money, Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth analyze the lessons from this important historical example. Using detailed new evidence collected from sixteenth-century archives, Drelichman and Voth examine the incentives and returns of lenders. They provide powerful evidence that in the right situations, lenders not only survive despite defaults—they thrive. Drelichman and Voth also demonstrate that debt markets cope well, despite massive fluctuations in expenditure and revenue, when lending functions like insurance. The authors unearth unique sixteenth-century loan contracts that offered highly effective risk sharing between the king and his lenders, with payment obligations reduced in bad times. A fascinating story of finance and empire, Lending to the Borrower from Hell offers an intelligent model for keeping economies safe in times of sovereign debt crises and defaults.




The Asian Financial Crisis 1995–98


Book Description

In the space of a few months, across Asia, a miracle became a nightmare. This was the Asian Financial Crisis of 1995–98. In this economic crisis hundreds of people died in rioting, political strong men were removed and hundreds of billions of dollars were lost by investors. This crisis saw the US dollar value of some Asian stock markets decline by ninety percent. Why did almost no one see it coming? The Asian Financial Crisis 1995–98 charts Russell Napier’s personal journey during that crisis as he wrote daily for institutional investors about an increasingly uncertain future. Relying on contemporaneous commentary, it charts the mistakes and successes of investors in the battle for investment survival in Asia from 1995–98. This is not just a guide for investors navigating financial markets, but also an explanation of how this crisis created the foundations of an age of debt that has changed the modern world.




...and Forgive Them Their Debts


Book Description

An epic journey through the economies of ancient civilizations, and how they managed debt versus social instability. Shocking historical truths about how debt played a central role in shaping (or destroying) ancient societies (viz: Rome), and that the Bible is preoccupied with debt, not sin, which has been disturbingly inverted in modern times.




Debt


Book Description

Now in paperback, the updated and expanded edition: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.




Start Late, Finish Rich (Canadian Edition)


Book Description

David Bach has a plan to help you live and finish rich—no matter where you start So you feel like you’ve started late? You are not alone. What if I told you that right now as you flip through this book, 70% of the people in the store with you are living paycheck to paycheck? What if I told you that the man browsing the aisle to your left owes more than $8,000 in credit card debt? And the woman on your right has less than $1,000 in savings? See? You’re really not alone. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who’ve saved too little and borrowed too much will never catch up financially. Why? Because they don’t know how. You can start late and finish rich—but you need a plan. This book contains the plan. It’s inspiring, easy to follow, and is based on proven financial principles. Building a secure financial future for yourself isn’t something you can do overnight. It will take time and it will take work. But you can do it. I know. I’ve helped millions of people get their financial lives together—and I can help you. Spend a few hours with me—and let me challenge you. Give me a chance to become your coach. Just because you started late doesn’t mean you are doomed to an uncertain future. Whether you’re in your thirties, forties, fifties, or beyond, there is still time to turn things around. It’s never too late to live and finish rich. All it takes is the decision to start. —David Bach Is it too late for me to get rich? Over and over, people share their fears with David Bach, America’s leading money coach and the number-one national best-selling author of The Automatic Millionaire. “If only I had started saving when I was younger!” they say. “Is there any hope for me?” There IS hope, and help is here at last! In Start Late, Finish Rich, David Bach takes the “Finish Rich” wisdom that has already helped millions of people and tailors it specifically to all of us who forgot to save, procrastinated, or got sidetracked by life’s unexpected challenges. Whether you are in your thirties, forties, fifties, or even older, Bach shows that you really can start late and still live and finish rich – and you can get your plan in place fast. In a motivating, swift read you learn how to ramp up the road to financial security with the principles of spend less, save more, make more – and most important, LIVE MORE. And he gives you the time tested plan to do it. The Start Late, Finish Rich promise is bold and clear: Even if you are buried in debt – there is still hope. You can get rich in real estate – by starting small. Find your “Latte Factor” – and turbo charge it to save money you didn’t know you had. You can start a business on the side – while you keep your old job and continue earning a paycheck. You can spend less, save more and make more – and it doesn’t have to hurt. David Bach gives you step-by-step instructions, worksheets, phone numbers and website addresses --everything you need to put your Start Late plan into place right away. And he shares the stories of ordinary Americans who have turned their lives around, at thirty, forty, fifty, even sixty years of age, and are now financially free. They did it, and now it’s your turn. With David Bach at your side, it’s never too late to change your financial destiny. It’s never too late to live your dreams. It’s never too late to be free.




Can't Pay, Won't Pay


Book Description

Debtors have been mocked, scolded and lied to for decades. We have been told that it is perfectly normal to go into debt to get medical care, to go to school, or even to pay for our own incarceration. We’ve been told there is no way to change an economy that pushes the majority of people into debt while a small minority hoard wealth and power. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed that mass indebtedness and extreme inequality are a political choice. In the early days of the crisis, elected officials drew up plans to spend trillions of dollars. The only question was: where would the money go and who would benefit from the bailout? The truth is that there has never been a lack of money for things like housing, education and health care. Millions of people never needed to be forced into debt for those things in the first place. Armed with this knowledge, a militant debtors movement has the potential to rewrite the contract and assure that no one has to mortgage their future to survive. Debtors of the World Must Unite. As isolated individuals, debtors have little influence. But as a bloc, we can leverage our debts and devise new tactics to challenge the corporate creditor class and help win reparative, universal public goods. Individually, our debts overwhelm us. But together, our debts can make us powerful.