We’ll Need Mass Debt Forgiveness to Recover From the Coronavirus MAY 28, 2020 The Babylonian Empire had a problem. Humanity’s banking craze had just gotten under way. Money lenders were in the temples making grain loans to farmers. This expansion of credit was helping to facilitate trade and agricultural production. But over time, the proliferation of debt was also creating big headaches. Subsistence farming is a tough business, even in good times. People often fell behind on their loans. And this insolvency was routinely exacerbated by forces wholly outside of human control — drought, pestilence, angry gods, etc. As a…
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