
Cancel U.S. Debt - tomh
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2009/01/28/ferguson_cancel.html
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jhancock
The post is a copy of a quote from Niall Ferguson. Interesting concept that
would be nice to discuss without prejudice.

Related to such a discussion is the position we are fed "too big to fail".
That is, we have to bail out financial institutions such as AIG due to the
size of their obligations and how interconnected they are.

I would very much like to see analysis of the concentration of these debt
obligations. That is, does only 10% of people (globally) hold 90% of the bad
debt? Yes, I realize the debt is really held by institutions, but people hold
the ownership of the institutions. So, if the debt is cut out and thrown away
as a doctor would do to a malignant tumor, do you get rid of most of the debt
by only effecting a minority of interests?

Does anyone know of such an analysis?

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trevelyan
Read Article #14 of the US Constitution:

"4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither
the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts,
obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."

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josefresco
The original article:
[http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/01/niall-
ferg...](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/01/niall-ferguson-
america-needs-to-cancel-its-debt.html)

