The U.S. defaulted twice on their obligations in real terms in the 20th century: once in 1934, and another in 1971. That was basically a "debt jubilee" - for th

The U.S. defaulted twice on their obligations in real terms in the 20th century: once in 1934, and another in 1971. That was basically a "debt jubilee" - for the country. Not sure the average person could have profited off of either one though (at least not legally). In 1970s you could have taken out fixed-interest rate debt (if you had the foresight), which would have been devalued as part of the 1970s inflation due to the 1971 Nixon Shock, so perhaps if you knew that you could come out ahead at the time. Usually debt jubilees work by transferring private debts onto public sector and then having the public sector default in real terms (by devaluing the currency).