Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by greatwhitenorthchick

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're talking about, but an image of debtor's prison out of Dickens just popped into my head. To be clear, not in a good way.

I think you've grasped it. I am advocating actions which demonstrate to all Americans the lack of power behind the enforcement mechanisms used to compel people to honor contracts and pay debts.

I don't think everyone should do this. Only the people complaining about inequality, or who are suffering under "odious" (term of art) debts. People who are the victims of rentier capitalists.

Those people complain and complain about inequality, and yet they take no action to remedy it.

A contract is only as good as one's ability to enforce it. If millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet decided to refuse to pay their debts, the system would be compelled to admit that it cannot compete with mass movements of little people. First, the value of credit ratings would evaporate, as the algorithms aren't constructed to address a mass intentional default. Second, the legal contract enforcement mechanisms - lawsuits, garnishments, etc. - cannot address a mass wave of defaults.

Have you ever said "Make me" when somebody told you to do something, and then they couldn't? Once a bluff is called, the person seeking to compel another to do or not do something is left pretty much powerless.

The system of enforcement of contracts in this country is easily challenged, and could shown to be far weaker than many unsophisticated people grasp.

The only impediment to a mass "bluff calling" which would turn rentier capitalism on its ear is the prisoner's dilemma. The little guy is scared, and he often lacks the education to understand his own leverage. But if he did, and if he could get past that prisoner's dilemma, trust his fellow little people, and they all banded together in a non-violent "financial revolt," you'd see some serious change, seriously fast.

Why else would the finance industry have been so incensed at Occupy? Why else would banks hire infiltrators to sabotage a gathering of largely stoned kids? Why would Goldman's security work with law enforcement to share intel on silly kids in a tent city? Because those hopeless kids had the right idea... just awful execution, and no organization.