..from Wikipedia article Government debt

universal debt relief for poorer countries. A less extreme measure is to permit civil society groups in every nation to buy the debt in exchange for minority equity positions in community organizations. Even in dictatorships, the combination of banks and civil society power could force land reform and overthrow unaccountable governments, since the people and banks would be aligned against the oppressive government.

Creditary economics and Islamic economics argue that any level of debt by any party simply represents a violent and coercive relationship that must end. As the existing system of public debt finance based on Bretton Woods is critical to the financial architecture, significant monetary reform would be required to realize this.

Using a debt to GDP ratio is one of the most accepted measures of assessing a nation’s debt. For example, one of the criteria of admission to the European Union’s Euro currency is that a country’s debt does not exceed 60% of that country’s GDP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_debt#Scale

The idea that civil society groups could overthrow unaccountable governments is encouraging. We have the unaccountable government. Now all we need is the active civil society.

b.. are you a big reader? And, possibly most important, are you a ‘real’ democrat? If so, I have found a great author, Anne Lamott. Just finished the second of three books I have of hers. Man, I wish I could be as articulate as she is. I realized from reading her that I am so far left I have a difficult time communicating with those on the right and/pr those who think they are on the left, but are masked conservatives.

v.. I’m a libertarian – in with Ron Paul, and Bob Barr. That doesn’t mean
I won’t read Anne Lamott.

b.. I read some of Ron Paul’s literature and saw/listened to him. I think he is kind of a nut – and that’s coming from someone who is kind of a nut. What do you value in the libertarian party – is this a Canadian come to the US thing?

v.. I think there is way too much gub-mint, doing stuff for its own ends,
primarily employing government workers, too many of whom add very
little value – adult daycare. It keeps them off the streets, but some
of that money and talent could be used more productively.

b.. Too many people in government – that’s fair – but, that is true of all institutions and bureaucracies and countries. I’m asking what the libertarian party is about – unless, of course that’s all it’s about which is pretty weird in these times of serious world and at home problems…. Ron Paul always seemed possessed when I heard him talk. In fact, was he the conspiracy theory guy regarding 9/11 – one time during a debate he actually seemed crazy – a nice crazy, but crazy none-the-less.

v.. http://www.lp.org/platform More articulate that I.

b..Oh, WOW, again. Not me but interesting. I’ll pay closer attention – I evaluated based on ‘candidates’ not their platform.

And so it goes…

by way of John Mauldin’s Outside the Box

Lawrence E. Mitchell writes in his recent book, The Speculation Economy, “modern American corporate capitalism is the result of human choices. It is a system we maintain out of choice. It is a system that has ramifications beyond the economic that have helped to embed social norms of individualism that interfere with the cooperation necessary for a successful economy and a thriving society.

This is a serious problem and it isn’t clear how it will get fixed.