2012 - Jubilee Year - 2012

2012 – Jubilee year - 2012

After each dramatic change in governance, new rulers clear the slate, forgive debt, impose new taxes. Today, instead of reining in corporations directly, we can forgive all personal debt by fiat, and let that comprehensive rebalancing lead to system changes and tax code revisions.

I see appeal in these ideas for fundamentalists and liberals and pragmatists and debtors. The Old Testament mandates a sabbath day every seven days, a sabbatical year every seven years, and a Jubilee, every seven seven years, when fields rest and slaves are freed, and indentured and other debt is rebalanced. Thomas Jefferson proposed canceling all debts every 19 years, and David Graeber in Debt's conclusion, suggests forgiveness now as a way out of the global mess we are in.