..rethinking debt - a French Audit

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

here in Graun

i especially like the point that a large portion of French National Debt has been incurred because of reduced taxes on the wealthy and corporations not an excess [in fact a drop] in public expenditures

http://www.audit-citoyen.org/

does any one know of a similar exercise for the UK?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

a thoughtful piece that i am still working out, by Paul Mason

[Serial_Apologist]

Possibly the reason no one replied to the first post on this thread was a feeling of sympathy towards those replying to its article, saying if any one government or otherwise, were blithely to deny its debt, regardless of said debtor justifying itself by pointing out that the incurred was mere gambling money, trust would instantly go down the pan. It would take more than declaration to consign such debt to oblivion - in fact the introduction of an entirely new currency. How sustainable that would be would depend on its protection from speculation, but,. as I said earlier, it wouldn't be "worth" anything much anyway, were one to go back to the original generating principles of wealth recognised by Adam Smith and Marx, and then establish a distribution system backed by democratic policing that didn't create massive inequalities and the envy and greed deriving therefrom; and, as the NS article points out, nothing lasts forever, so that making the wherewithals to keep things practical and in good repair will always be required, whether or not "information" is commodified.

[ardcarp]

As someone who struggles with day-to-day book-keeping as a self-employed musician, I'm afraid anything to do with global economics makes my eyeballs rotate in opposite directions. However, this paragraph struck a chord:

An illegitimate debt is one that grew in the service of private interests, and not the wellbeing of the people. Therefore the French people have a right to demand a moratorium on the payment of the debt, and the cancellation of at least part of it. There is precedent for this: in 2008 Ecuador declared 70% of its debt illegitimate.

I suppose Ecuador has the luxury of not belonging [AFAIK] to a club with rules such as the EC.

I'm always slightly puzzled by National Debt anyway. It seems every country borrows billions to fund itself....but if everyone is borrowing from everyone else, what's the point?

I'm a bit naive in these matters. maybe someone can explain. (But no complicated words such a agnotology please!)