Debt Bondage: A Christian Perspective on the Paulson Bank Bailout
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10458
by Dr. Michael Hudson
Global Research, October 5, 2008
An unprecedented popular protest led Congress to reject the Treasury’s initial
bailout plan on Monday, September 29. Most commentators have noted how ironic
and seemingly out-of-character it was that the bailout was defeated mainly by
Republicans, and indeed by the party’s right-wing Bible Belt Conservatives. But
would it be too much to hope that these Congressmen bore in mind the Christian
ethic embodied in Matthew 18 – almost literally a Biblical condemnation of the
bailout’s terms?
This wonderful passage describes how Peter came to Jesus and asked about
forgiveness – mainly the forgiveness of debts. In ancient languages the words
for "sin" and "debt" were the same, in an epoch when. Sinners typically atoned
for their offenses and "trespasses" by making a compensation payment.
Jesus told a parable of a king calling in one of his officials, who owed him 10
thousand talents – not unlike today’s government seeking to collect monies due
from Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street financial firms. When the
royal servant was unable to come up with the money, the king consigned him and
his family to debt bondage. But the official "fell down and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." The analogy here
is with Mr. Paulson’s allies on Wall Street promising that, somehow, the
Treasury may end up being repaid and may even make a profit by buying $700
billion in junk mortgages.
"Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and
forgave him the debt." This is what the compassionate Mr. Paulson is proposing
to do. The Treasury will buy "trash for cash," taking junk mortgages and other
bad loans at whatever price the financial speculators paid, without obliging
them to take a loss.
In the Matthew 18 parable the royal official "went out and found one of his
fellow servants, who owed him a hundred pence; and he laid hands on him, and
took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe.’" The debtor begged the
creditor for forgiveness just as the creditor himself had begged the king. But
the creditor was not moved, and "went out and cast the debtor into prison, till
he should pay the debt."
Other debtors saw what was happening and worried that the same fate was in
store for them, so they went to the king and told him what had happened. The
king got angry and called in the creditor and said, ‘Oh, thou wicked servant. I
forgave thee all that debt … shouldn’t you also have had compassion on thy
fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?’ The king then threw him "to his
tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him."
This is where Congress has dropped the ball. It is telling the banks – and the
administrators whom the Treasury is hiring to recover "taxpayer money" – to act
in a hard-hearted way and lead the economy even further down the road to debt
peonage. Consumers, homeowners and other debtors defaulting on their student
loans, car loans and medical debts are not to get relief from the shrinking
economy, rising consumer prices and falling asset prices. But Wall Street is to
be able to avoid any loss at all. It is supposed to repay in five years – that
is, two presidential terms from now.
So the Christian parallel is broken. The moral in the above parable, Jesus
explained (Matthew 18:35), was that "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do
unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses," that is, their debts. But Wall Street and Congress must be
atheists, because the way that matters are working out today, only the wealthy
are being forgiven their debts, not the poor. The big sinners are going free,
their victims are being stripped of their assets.
This is of course what happened historically in the Roman Empire on its way to
debt bondage and serfdom. That is the secular road on which Congress set the
economy last week.
Michael Hudson is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research
Articles by Michael Hudson
This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc.
www.surfcontrol.com
_______________________________________________
Marxism-Thaxis mailing list
[email protected]
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
