David Graeber's Debt: the First 5,000 Years is really worth reading to understand the anthropology of debt. It's common in societies to accumulate unpayable de

David Graeber's Debt: the First 5,000 Years is really worth reading to understand the anthropology of debt. It's common in societies to accumulate unpayable debts (that, over time, evolve into debts designed never to be paid) for ceremonial purposes. A society might foster interdependence by having everyone in debt to everyone (as described in the fable above) in small amounts. Over time, these amounts grow. Nothing really stops them. House prices and education costs are no longer limited by what people can pay, because borrowing in increasingly large amounts becomes licit (and necessary, due to inflated prices). This generates a spiral. People can't afford to pay off their coming-of-age debt? Yeah, it's designed that way. In other societies it has been marriage or funeral expenses or receiving one's first hunting tools--in ours, it is the last 4-8 years of schooling. These ceremonial debts seem harmless, insofar as the penalties for nonpayment are rarely enforced--few people actually have their wages garnished over medical bills or student loans--but, of course, they're anything but. In practice, they reify the ruling class's self-asserted superiority by giving them a legal justification for bringing harm to those who "freely" took on these debts. For reasons unclear, although Graeber examines a few possibilities, there seems to be a psychological weight given to the notion of debt, so strong that debts even outlive governments and states.