Graeber helped organize the initial Occupy Wall Street protest and was credited with helping to develop the slogan, "We are the 99%."
When this is all over, will we be able to patch up the economy and get things back to normal? Trump certainly claims so. But he's wrong. The pandemic is exposing just how dysfunctional our economic system was to begin with.
Corporate debt among non-banks exploded to $75 trillion at the end of 2019, up from $48 trillion at the end of 2009. There is increasing alarm that companies in the energy, hospitality and auto sectors won't be able to make their bond payments.
Debt’s ubiquity is a burden, but also an opportunity.
To pay off fines and other debts, inmates in Mississippi’s little-known restitution centers must work grueling low-wage jobs, pay rent and endure strip searches. Caught between prison and freedom, they often don’t know when they’ll get to go home.
With every purchase, those credit cards in our wallets are reinforcing a rich people-friendly America.
High-interest loan companies are using Utah’s small claims courts to arrest borrowers and take their bail money. Technically, the warrants are issued for missing court hearings. For many, that’s a distinction without a difference.
Moral thinking about debt has fluctuated throughout U.S. history. Today’s calls for cancellation suggest it may be poised for transformation once again.
The problem is not a structural lack of liquidity but the use banks make of the liquidity available to them [...] they use the liquidity placed at their disposal to buy up massive amounts of debt which sooner or later will lead to a major new crisis
UCLA Labor Center study finds county relies on laborers – largely people of color – threatened with debts and jail to do work that would otherwise be paid.
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