I can think of several ways this program could go off the rails but if ever there was an example of private citizens stepping in to fill a community need without the overbearing totalitarianism of the state this would be it:
xchrom (97,210 posts)
Former Occupy Wall Street activists start ‘Rolling Jubilee’ to buy up Americans’ personal debt
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/01/former-occupy-wall-street-activists-start-rolling-jubilee-to-buy-up-americans-personal-debt/
For a year and a half, 80-year-old Kentucky resident Shirley Logsdon received repeated calls from a debt collection agency over an unpaid medical bill.
Then one day, out of the blue, she received a letter saying the $983 debt had been handled — purchased by Rolling Jubilee, a group linked to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
“I was dumbfounded but delighted, of course,†Logsdon, who is retired along with her husband of 62 years, told AFP.
“We got a letter saying that everything had been resolved — finally it is over, you don’t have to worry, you don’t owe us anything. (…) I didn’t know these people. It was a godsend.â€
Now, just imagine if some Teabagger such as Ted Cruz or Rand Paul or Sarah Palin had suggested people rely upon each other for their financial needs rather than using government with its inherent powers of coercion. Would we ever hear the end of how Teabaggers just want to murder the elderly?
Bluenorthwest (28,400 posts)
2. The Rolling Jubilee takes action, while others spew rhetoric and take no actions.
Pardon me if I see actual help given as superior to press releases designed to enhance the image of the clerics who do no real services to those in need, but rather they gnash teeth and howl that the gay people are making poverty and contraception is destroying the value of life.
There is a difference between actually helping people and just talking about helping people while also hurting others.
You mean: the deliberative process in even the best functioning sorts of democracies is slow and cumbersome?
Where have I heard this before?
Oh, that's right...
...IN EVERY CONSERVATIVE JOURNAL OF THOUGHT EVER PUBLISHED!
Pterodactyl (1,411 posts)
5. Very nice, but buying debt = giving banks money.
As if banks have their own money.
If you had a job you would understand the money banks have are other people's deposits.
If the old lady doesn't pay that back then the banks can't make due when the depositors seek to withdraw their money.
If people cannot withdraw their money they stop depositing their money in the first place.
If they stop depositing their money in the first place the old lady has no money to borrow, regardless of her future ability to repay.
Laelth (17,597 posts)
12. We need a global jubilee. n/t
-Laelth
How much will you be ponying up?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024115594
