I admit to you that like so many others in this country, debt is something that I have on my mind a lot. Not only that, but since I am 20 years behind the curve that most people follow, my debt structure is very interesting indeed. But, that is not what the thought is about, this time. Debt, yes. Mine, no.
Believe it or not, there is a philosophy of debt that is not agreed upon by all. Here in the United States it appears that we have the Shylock philosophy. Pay or die. We seem to have the attitude that the lender is a scoundrel without any philanthropic bone in his body. Not a charitable corner in his heart. Here in the United States, debt, for the most part, is a non-negotiable contract. The only negotiation possible is at the beginning and cannot be amended along the way. Either you pay or you go to jail.
For a long time, lending was the bailiwick of the Jewish community. It was thus because the Christian belief of the time was that interest charged on a loan was sinful. The concept of affordable interest had not yet been developed. We are all aware, that things have changed since then. We are also well aware that there is a prevailing attitude that lenders are indeed scoundrels. We are also very much in accord that debt is a good thing that has to be managed properly, on both sides of the moral scale-- by the lender as well as by the borrower.
There is an interesting history about the phenomenon of debt. In some cultures, when the king died and a new king was crowned, the populace would be rewarded by the forgiveness of all debts. All slates were clean and everything began at zero. I do not know if this custom continues anywhere in the world. I wonder if anyone owed Kaddhaffi any money.
I am not Jewish, but I do know that the law of the Sabbath states that every seventh year (Sabbath) all debts are to be forgiven. The other thing that I do not know is if this is still practiced in the Jewish Community. The other practice that I do know exists is that the very rich, individuals and corporations as well as countries negotiate and renegotiate debts all the time. All you have to do is to watch the news on television fairly regularly and you will get to know it. Those who do not get to negotiate the terms of the debt are the "Antonios" of the world who are indebted to the "Shylocks."
It is therefore a part of my thought, some of it old (The Bible and History part of it) and some of it rather recent, is that the world owes it to itself to rethink the philosophy that describes debt in these times. You may or may not agree with me, but that's OK. I'm easy. I don't even mind if we write it "debt" or "dett" or even "det." Oh, hey wait a minute. Maybe we could start the rethinking process by negotiating over the orthography of the process. Good idea! Let's do it.
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