Should Creditors forgive Debts

There is an anti Capitalist Play on at the Royal Court at the moment and a review suggesting it is too fanciful , too long to post here, but this comment is worth posting and explains why Britain is in the state it is now.






PierrePendre

02/22/2013 10:06 AM






Lustgarten as the son of no doubt comfortably off American left wing
academics probably has a grasp of economics that is more theoretical than
practical - just like Cameron/Osborne, Obama, Hollande and, well, you name
it.
Part of the problem inherent in social democracy is that crucial
economic decisions are taken by ministerial amateurs motivated by political
considerations and ideological bias rather than a desire to build long term
security.
The decision to let debt rip is one example of how dangerous it
can be to give free rein to hubris and amateurism.
A conscious decision
was taken in the 1950s to trust ordinary people to manage their personal debt
when hire purchase for consumer goods was legalised.
The Act assumed
that the great majority of people would be responsible in taking on debt and it
has proved to be in the long run a mistake; in the end, neither individuals nor
governments could be trusted not to live beyond their means.
Both have
run up debt liabilities that they cannot meet and both are now facing the dire
consequences.
In the world inhabited by the Lustgartens and Occupy
(mostly, it seems, middle class narcissists driven by a sense of entitlement and
immediate self-gratification) the solution is for debtors to bankrupt their
creditors at a stroke.
It doesn't seem to be working for Greece though,
living as it does on the charity of its EU partners. If all debtors repudiate
all of their debt, where does the charity come from then?
To renege on
debt is to destroy the trust that is the glue that holds people together in a
free society. Where there is no trust, society can only be held together by
tyranny. We know this from the outcome of certain 20th century
experiments.
The way out of the present crisis is to return as quickly as
possible to affordable spending on the part of both individuals and
government.
Cameron/Osborne and Miliband/Balls prevaricate in the hope of
stumbling on some magic trick of economics that will allow them to do so without
causing the pain that might damage their electoral prospects.
They might
as well believe in fairies along with OWS and its adolescent
playwrights.