3 ms·

> “Each person seeks mastery over a world of slaves,” he wrote in his 1975 book, The Limits of Liberty. "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave

> “Each person seeks mastery over a world of slaves,” he wrote in his 1975 book, The Limits of Liberty. "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." - Proverbs 22:7 You look at society today and various debt levels across the board...there's a lot of truth to it. The requirement to continue making payments on various debts is one of the biggest factors that forces people into jobs that they may not want. Lots of wisdom there.

pier25 8y ago
I'm from Spain. Before the bubble bursted in 2008 people were signing 40 year mortgages. Medium class couples could barely afford having kids. A regular 3 bedroom apartment would go above 200k Euros easily, and of course you'd end up paying more than double that when taking interests into account. Banks profit from the nesting instinct.
arcticbull 8y ago
Debt is by no means a clear cut evil; it’s referenced in the article at the federal level as a good, which allows governments to meet the civic needs of the people in times of hardship. At the individual level, it allows people to have what they want when they want it; you needn’t save 3 years to purchase a car, buy it now and save over the next 3 years. Or 30 years for a house. Debt is a tool - it’s good or bad depending on how it’s used. The temptation is that people often want to live beyond their means, and it’s that instinct that drives many negative outcomes, but also it’s tempered at least in the US by bankruptcy laws.
- candiodari 8y ago
  Except the government massively expands it's own debt ... constantly. I mean, here is an article with a lot of figures: https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-and-percent-3306296 https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-an... Good times or bad, times of plenty, times of hardship, war or peace, ... government goes deeper in debt. When there is a tiny bit of debt relief, it's ... essentially accidental ... (nevertheless great respect for Bill Clinton, who proposed the budget made it happen, however it was not his intention. He could have spent the money though, and he didn't. Which is more than can be said of many others. On net however, Bill Clinton was like every other president: the government spent way more than it brought in)
  - arcticbull 8y ago
    Thing is it seems like it doesn’t matter. The government isn’t required to balance is checkbooks at the end of the year and is in control of the money supply. Government debt isn’t really slavery as they have many more options. The US has actually defaulted on its debt obligations 6 times [1,2,3,4] so far, most recently in 1979 [1]. Seems like so long as it doesn’t happen too often, it might be a non-issue, I’m not sure what to make of it personally. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/267205/ https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/267205/ [2] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/id/43140915 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/id/43140915 [3] https://mises.org/library/short-history-us-credit-defaults https://mises.org/library/short-history-us-credit-defaults [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crises https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crise...

pier25 8y ago

I'm from Spain. Before the bubble bursted in 2008 people were signing 40 year mortgages. Medium class couples could barely afford having kids. A regular 3 bedroom apartment would go above 200k Euros easily, and of course you'd end up paying more than double that when taking interests into account. Banks profit from the nesting instinct.

arcticbull 8y ago

Debt is by no means a clear cut evil; it’s referenced in the article at the federal level as a good, which allows governments to meet the civic needs of the people in times of hardship. At the individual level, it allows people to have what they want when they want it; you needn’t save 3 years to purchase a car, buy it now and save over the next 3 years. Or 30 years for a house. Debt is a tool - it’s good or bad depending on how it’s used. The temptation is that people often want to live beyond their means, and it’s that instinct that drives many negative outcomes, but also it’s tempered at least in the US by bankruptcy laws.

candiodari 8y ago
Except the government massively expands it's own debt ... constantly. I mean, here is an article with a lot of figures: https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-and-percent-3306296 https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-an... Good times or bad, times of plenty, times of hardship, war or peace, ... government goes deeper in debt. When there is a tiny bit of debt relief, it's ... essentially accidental ... (nevertheless great respect for Bill Clinton, who proposed the budget made it happen, however it was not his intention. He could have spent the money though, and he didn't. Which is more than can be said of many others. On net however, Bill Clinton was like every other president: the government spent way more than it brought in)
- arcticbull 8y ago
  Thing is it seems like it doesn’t matter. The government isn’t required to balance is checkbooks at the end of the year and is in control of the money supply. Government debt isn’t really slavery as they have many more options. The US has actually defaulted on its debt obligations 6 times [1,2,3,4] so far, most recently in 1979 [1]. Seems like so long as it doesn’t happen too often, it might be a non-issue, I’m not sure what to make of it personally. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/267205/ https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/267205/ [2] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/id/43140915 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/id/43140915 [3] https://mises.org/library/short-history-us-credit-defaults https://mises.org/library/short-history-us-credit-defaults [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crises https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crise...