Solving the debt crisis

I tend to let messages pile up in my email inbox. I've been going through it and filing and deleting lots of stuff -- occasionally finding a message suggesting I read an article that no longer exists. And sometimes finding an old article that still exists and still is somewhat relevant. Two years ago Paul Krugman wrote about the difficulty in resolving parts of the economic mess, in particular the debt and mortgage mess. It wasn't (and still isn't) getting resolved because of the "moralizers" (his term) insist that those who were stupid enough to run up such big debts should pay for that stupidity by having to pay what they owe. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for that upgraded bathroom that was done just before the collapse.

I could get into a whole lot of scenarios where a person can't pay that debt through no fault of their own. That's exactly what foreclosure defense is all about. But I'll leave that to the reader, only noting that Krugman says some people have lost their jobs because they refuse to bail out their neighbors.

Now contrast that with a new effort by the Occupy movement. They call it the People's Bailout or the Rolling Jubilee (though they don't say, I suspect they are using the word "jubilee" in the Bible's Old Testament sense). Their idea is to raise money to buy debt (available for pennies on the dollar) and then abolish it. They figure with $50K they can wipe out $1 million of debt. To help with that goal they are hosting a People's Bailout Telethon on Thursday with a hefty lineup of entertainers. They note they cannot purchase a particular individual's debt. They will be purchasing random blocks of loans and abolishing whatever is in that block.

The Occupy folks are also doing a great deal of work to help New York residents recover from Sandy. Their work appears quite impressive. If the government won't help in an emergency, the people will organize to provide that help, not for charity, but to build community.

As part of their efforts they have come up with another crazy/great idea. They are using the Amazon wedding registry to list all the tools and supplies they need -- such as the 18 inch utility and wrecking bar.

One more Sandy story: One of the organizations helping with recovery is Team Rubicon, made up of war veterans. These former military people find the work therapeutic. They can use their military skills for good rather than for killing people. This story is part of Newsweek's Hero issue.