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Debtor's Prison -- The Poor Person's Best Friend
JesBeard.com ^ | Jes Beard

Posted on 03/11/2005 9:27:36 PM PST by The Loan Arranger

Years ago, this country did away with debtors prisons. The nation in general, and poor people in particular, would be well served to bring them back. The harm to business from unpaid debt, and the reduced productivity and even business failure unpaid debt can bring, is obvious. Businesses or individuals who are not repaid the money they loaned or who are not paid for the goods or services they produced and sold on credit are prevented from accumulating needed and even expected capital for expansion, and they are frequently thrown into serious financial constraints making it hard to pay their own creditors and employees. This not only can theoretically choke the gross national product, many recessions and even the Great Depression have been in fact brought on at least partly by unpaid debt.

But debt relief measures, either in the form of actual debt forgiveness or in the form of relaxed procedures to collect debt (including the abolition of debtors prisons), are generally thought to help the poor. The idea that once again forcing poor people into involuntary servitude to pay for meager food and shelter is certainly a tough sell. But here goes.

A return to debtors prisons would help poor people in at least five ways: 1) increasing workforce participation; 2) increasing personal responsibility; 3) making it easier for the poor to climb the economic ladder through entrepreneurship; 4) reintroduction of the virtues which have proven the only reliable way of the poor to leave poverty; 5) making credit more readily available.

(Excerpt) Read more at jesbeard.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: amodestproposal; credit; debtorsprison; paybacktime
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To: The Loan Arranger

How asinine - like we need any more government control over people's lives. It's the same logic as throwing "deadbeat" dads (and there are some) into prison because they can't make child support payments and then expect them to make child support payments from a cell. I guess the U.S. government should be the first debtor prison internee along with the Congress. Dumping the present tax system for a consumption tax, removing the death tax, implementing tort reform,reducing the bureaucracy to facilitate small business growth, will all go along way to relieving financial stress on average Americans.


21 posted on 03/11/2005 10:15:21 PM PST by Apercu ("Rep ipsa loquitor")
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To: The Loan Arranger
That has to be the most idiotic post in a long time.

If we're going to have debtors prisons then the debtors employer should also be liable for the same debts and penalties.

When a debtor applies for a loan they list their income from employment as the source of payment. If the employer fires the employee so that the employer can improve their own profit margin isn't the employer the actual cause of the bad debt? Shouldn't the employer also be liable for the debt? Perhaps the employer should be required to cosign for all of their employees debts. That would put an end to outsourcing.

22 posted on 03/11/2005 10:15:31 PM PST by LPM1888 (What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? - Lazarus Long)
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To: LPM1888
If the employer fires the employee so that the employer can improve their own profit margin isn't the employer the actual cause of the bad debt? Shouldn't the employer also be liable for the debt? Perhaps the employer should be required to cosign for all of their employees debts. That would put an end to outsourcing.

What a breathtakingly weird idea. Employers should be made liable for the debts of their employees? And you think that will encourage employment in America?

23 posted on 03/11/2005 10:23:52 PM PST by SedVictaCatoni (<><)
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To: The Loan Arranger

As soon as the government learns to spend with the same level of responsibility that is expected from Joe Citizen, it's worth a look.


24 posted on 03/11/2005 10:24:59 PM PST by thoughtomator (I believe in the power of free markets to do good)
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To: staytrue

But prison of course is just another form of slavery... killing the patient to cure the disease isn't an improvement.


25 posted on 03/11/2005 10:26:02 PM PST by thoughtomator (I believe in the power of free markets to do good)
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To: Polybius

Beautiful!


26 posted on 03/11/2005 10:26:53 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (You get more with a gun and a smile than just a smile itself!)
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To: blackbart.223

The government is also very responsible, as it has for many decades told everybody that exactly the same spending patterns that drive personal bankruptcy are totally sound.

The more I think about all the bankruptcy news lately, the more hypocrisy I can find, and the more ways I can count the average Joe getting screwed by people who don't practice what they preach.


27 posted on 03/11/2005 10:30:03 PM PST by thoughtomator (I believe in the power of free markets to do good)
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To: SedVictaCatoni

It isn't any dumber than the original post.


28 posted on 03/11/2005 10:33:09 PM PST by LPM1888 (What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? - Lazarus Long)
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To: El Conservador

Now THAT is silly! Not everyone is in debt;I'm not.


29 posted on 03/11/2005 10:35:16 PM PST by nopardons
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To: klimeckg
Apparently this is a good thing, but I bet if we can look at the books of all the transactions that take place it's all in the RED.

That doesn't even make any sense. You're suggesting that if a company develops a parcel of real estate, building houses, malls, and a Wal-Mart, that everybody ends up in debt?

And why would George Washington's decision to grow wheat instead of tobacco as a cash crop for export have anything to do with his interest in holding debt?

30 posted on 03/11/2005 10:39:16 PM PST by SedVictaCatoni (<><)
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To: SedVictaCatoni
What a breathtakingly weird idea. Employers should be made liable for the debts of their employees? And you think that will encourage employment in America?

It would sure discourage lay offs.

31 posted on 03/11/2005 10:40:03 PM PST by LPM1888 (What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? - Lazarus Long)
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To: King Prout
If it were to stop, yes: the consumerism base of our economy would take a massive hit. GOOD. Because the CAPITALIST base would surge back into primacy - where it ought to be.

Hmm. What is the difference between the "consumerism" base of our economy and the "capitalist" base?

32 posted on 03/11/2005 10:42:17 PM PST by SedVictaCatoni (<><)
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To: klimeckg
Jefferson was penurious throughout All of his latter years and it had little to do with what hes farmed. The man was a shopaholic and a spendthrift. He often begged his friends to bail him out.

Adams died in deep debt;a bankrupt? Then how could he condemn Jefferson (and he did...loudly and long!)for his monetary failings?

33 posted on 03/11/2005 10:42:28 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Polybius

That was just a rebound back to normal for her company's stock. It tanked during the whole trial/imclone debacle, but it is back where its worth. Whatever one may think of her, her company has good business fundamentals and good products, so to see it rebound would be expected...


34 posted on 03/11/2005 10:53:56 PM PST by Schwaeky (One China Policy: Support the Republic of China on Taiwan)
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To: The Loan Arranger
he makes his point

IIIFFF what he says is true, then he's making an entirely different point. The solution to that sort of indebtedness, without speculation, or cash flow, etc., is a living wage.

What he's saying, without realizing it, is that a lot of 'good job picture' jobs DON'T PAY ENOUGH! That's what he's saying. What he's saying is that the American economy is on the skids, is in deep trouble, where a host of people literally cannot find good paying jobs.

That's the only thing that can explain such indebtedness, again if what he says is true. Maybe it's not true. And maybe he's wrong.

35 posted on 03/11/2005 11:05:55 PM PST by sevry
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To: SedVictaCatoni

less trash.

think up the rest of the differences on your own.


36 posted on 03/11/2005 11:14:29 PM PST by King Prout (Remember John Adam!)
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To: sevry
Most debtors get themselves into their own messes. Pay them more and they'll just spend/charge more.This has very little to do with how much someone earns and a very great deal with people buying anything and everything they imagine they need,at that moment, whether they can afford it or not.
37 posted on 03/11/2005 11:18:47 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Schwaeky
That was just a rebound back to normal for her company's stock. It tanked during the whole trial/imclone debacle, but it is back where its worth. Whatever one may think of her, her company has good business fundamentals and good products, so to see it rebound would be expected...

Well, not really.

The magazine is losing money and so is the company as a whole.

After the peak of the "America will love Martha after she pays her dues" hype, the stock is again heading South.


38 posted on 03/11/2005 11:22:38 PM PST by Polybius
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To: The Loan Arranger
Its wrong to punish people for being poor. How about we punish politicians for wasting our money? We're looking at the wrong people upon which to impose fiscal discipline.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
39 posted on 03/12/2005 12:55:20 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

I have never even bought a car on credit.The only loan I had was for my house. It can be done,just dont live above your means.


40 posted on 03/12/2005 4:03:40 AM PST by JOHANNES801
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