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It is no surprise that in the Hypercapitalist world we live there exists a market for everything. Right now, somewhere in cyberspace, a debt collector is bidding on medical debt, student debt, mortgage debt, you name it. They buy this bundled debt for pennies on the dollar, then your phone starts ringing and you get harassed while you take on the midnight shift and play the pay Paul and borrow from Peter game all the way to the grave join and the growing ranks of the overworked under paid stressed out workers shouldering increasing debt or filing for bankruptcy.
Imagine then, a knock on your door, with Ed McMahon and a TV crew there to explain to you that poof- your debt has been purchased, and the owner of that debt has deleted it. Gone. You have a clean slate. Well, Ed McMahon is dead, and he is not going to rise, Christ like to absolve you of your debt. HOWEVER- Occupy Wall Street is getting ready to start literally making some debt disappear.
Here is the basic idea:
“Banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy speculative market of debt buyers who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from debtors. The Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it out of the hands of collectors, and then abolishing it.”
In the video above, I speak with Rolling Jubilee organizer Pamela Brown about an idea whose time has come.
-DT
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