Richard Vague - The Case for a Debt Jubilee

1 Cover

2 Series Page The Case For series Sam Pizzigati, The Case for a Maximum Wage Louise Haagh, The Case for Universal Basic Income James K. Boyce, The Case for Carbon Dividends Frances Coppola, The Case for People’s Quantitative Easing Joe Guinan & Martin O’Neill, The Case for Community Wealth Building Anna Coote & Andrew Percy, The Case for Universal Basic Services Gerald Friedman, The Case for Medicare for All Pavlina R. Tcherneva, The Case for a Job Guarantee Anna Coote, Aidan Harper & Alfie Stirling, The Case for a Four-Day Week Richard Vague, The Case for a Debt Jubilee

3 Title Page The Case for a Debt Jubilee Richard Vague polity

4 Copyright Copyright © Richard Vague 2022 The right of Richard Vague to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2022 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4874-3 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Vague, Richard, author. Title: The case for a debt jubilee / Richard Vague. Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “How we can stave off economic disaster by freeing millions from debt bondage”-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021017322 (print) | LCCN 2021017323 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509548729 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509548736 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509548743 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Debt relief. | Loans, Personal. | Debts, Public. | Financial crises. Classification: LCC HG3755.3 .V34 2022 (print) | LCC HG3755.3 (ebook) | DDC 332.024/02--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017322 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017323 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

5 1 High Levels of Private Debt Stifle the Economy The Private Debt Problem in the Twenty-First Century High Private Debt Is a Harmfully Consequential and Yet Largely Ignored Problem

6 2 The Paradox of Debt Why Debt Grows New Money Is Created by Debt Other Reasons Why Debt Grows Is There a Limit to Private Debt Growth?

7 3 Policy Solutions That Won’t Work Growing Our Way out of Debt Inflating Our Way out of Debt Paying Our Way out of Debt Exporting Our Way out of Debt Moderating Our Way out of Debt

8 4 The Path to Private Debt Jubilee How Debt Restructuring Works – and Why We Need It Is Debt Amnesty Fair? Too Costly? Morally Hazardous? Student Debt Relief Mortgage Debt Relief Healthcare Debt Relief Bankruptcy Law Reform Small Business Debt Relief Moderating the Debt Bias in Tax Law The Social and Economic Benefits of Jubilee Turning to Government Debt Jubilee

9 5 The Enigma of Government Debt Welcome to the World of Monetary Sovereignty Is There a Limit? The Red Herring of Economics Debunked: Money Supply and Debt Growth Don’t Cause Inflation Consequences of Rising Government Debt Can the Government Create Money Without Debt? Is It Dangerous to Create Perpetual Money?

10 Epilogue: Concluding Thoughts The Opportunity Before Us

11 Appendix

12 Works Cited

13 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Contents

3 Series Page

4 Title Page

5 Copyright

6 Begin Reading

7 Epilogue

8 Appendix

9 Works Cited

10 End User License Agreement

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Sam Pizzigati, The Case for a Maximum Wage

Louise Haagh, The Case for Universal Basic Income

James K. Boyce, The Case for Carbon Dividends

Frances Coppola, The Case for People’s Quantitative Easing

Joe Guinan & Martin O’Neill, The Case for Community Wealth Building

Anna Coote & Andrew Percy, The Case for Universal Basic Services

Gerald Friedman, The Case for Medicare for All

Pavlina R. Tcherneva, The Case for a Job Guarantee

Anna Coote, Aidan Harper & Alfie Stirling, The Case for a Four-Day Week

Richard Vague, The Case for a Debt Jubilee

Richard Vague

polity

Copyright © Richard Vague 2022

The right of Richard Vague to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2022 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.