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March 8, 2005
Krugman calls it "The Debt-Peonage Society"
Paul Krugman is one of the few "main-stream media" people to pick up on Warren Buffett's comment about the "sharecropper society" - see previous posting. But Paul Krugman's comments are about the bankruptcy bill pending before the Senate:
Warren Buffett recently made headlines by saying America is more likely to turn into a "sharecroppers' society" than an "ownership society." But I think the right term is a "debt peonage" society - after the system, prevalent in the post-Civil War South, in which debtors were forced to work for their creditors. The bankruptcy bill won't get us back to those bad old days all by itself, but it's a significant step in that direction.
I still think that Buffett's comment was the more powerful. The Republic will not come to an end because the Congress adopts a flawed bankruptcy law. It might if we continue, as Buffett warns, to sell off the nation a piece at a time.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at March 8, 2005 3:05 PM
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