The word Jubilee is important when it comes to debt. It refers to debt forgiveness. I wonder when we might need to discuss it as part of the post-Covid recovery? I am not sure that will happen now unless we do.
The man who would have us all invest in bonds to secure our well funded retirements now says peeps shouldn’t have to pay back their debts.
Well that is why it should be compulsory. Obviously.
I have no plans to forgive any fucker. They hired the money, they can repay it.
Jubilee occurred once every 49 (7×7) years. According to the Book of Leviticus, slaves and prisoners would be freed, and debts would be forgiven. I’ve occasionally wondered how this would work in practice, since everyone would know when ‘Jubilee’ was coming up. So what happened the year before – Who would buy a slave then? Or lend anyone money except at extortionate rates. Presumably crime became more common, too.
What the Jubilee did was to restore ownership of land to the heir of the person to whom Joshua allocated it. So you never actually sold land: you just sold the number of crops until the next Jubilee (an agricultural annuity). The effective interest rates would look incredible to an outsider: two years before Jubilee it looked like 70% (because the buyer would need to pay for seed and for day-labourers to reap the harvest so his net receipt is less than the gross value of the harvest).
Cancellation of monetary debts was a side-effect.
People will still lend but only at interest rates that would make you weep: that is why Leviticus which forbids usury has provisions for debtors to sell their children into slavery instead.
The ignorance of Murphy has no limits.
“that is why Leviticus which forbids usury has provisions for debtors to sell their children into slavery instead.”
We seem to be reviving this tradition as we speak.
Excellent, all those owing taxes to HMG can just tell them to f**k off as we’re having a jubilee.
That is what he means isn’t it?