Talk:Debt
From Academic Kids
This needs stuff on odious debt, like when countries borrow money but dictators spend it on palaces. Also global debt should have numbers.
- One paragraph was cut out:
- "Similar arrangements could exist for individuals in that they could agree to repay a percentage of their earnings for a set amount of time in return for a sum of borrowed money. The lender would need to evaluate the future earning capacity of the borrower (this is possible and is often done anyway when lending), but more difficult would be the necessity to track how much they do in fact earn during the "repayment period". Typically, only governments can track earnings of individuals in such a way, and so such arrangements are only currently of use to governments. It is possible to view a portion of taxes as such a form of repayment in return for the cost of government services previously "lent" to citizens, for example education when the citizen was young or government paid maternity leave for the citizen's mother to look after them. Such views occasionally form part of justifications and structuring of some taxation. Some taxes in some countries are only collected from individuals that have received particular services, such as university education. Such an arrangement provides an incentive for the government to make the education useful, since they are sharing in the proceeds from it."
- it is mainly on possibilities of personal debt relief. User:J_heisenberg 12/9/04
[edit]
Relation to human lifespan.
One line of thought would say that the incentive to buy now and pay later is increased if human lifespan is decreased. But if man lived for 900 years instead of 90 years, man would would probably still want the capital markets just as much as they do now.--Jerryseinfeld 14:34, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
