Here Comes the Rolling Jubilee

An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street called Strike Debt has launched a movement called Rolling Jubilee that seeks to eliminate debt by purchasing it from financial firms and canceling it so borrowers do not have to repay.

As of this posting, Rolling Jubilee claims to have raised $198,428 to cancel almost $4 million worth of debt.

Organizers of the program intend to expose debt as a primary means for oppressing people in the lower and middle classes. Observers point out that the group’s effort would work against itself if it ever took off. Lindsay Beyerstein at In These Times writes:

The fatal flaw in this model was that the influx of American cash for child slaves drove up the price of children and encouraged slavers to capture more children. If Rolling Jubilee ever got off the ground in a big way, something similar would happen with credit card debt. The credit companies would make more predatory loans, and debt sellers would charge Rolling Jubilee more and more for the privilege of buying up the debt.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.Democracy Now!: