Paying for Debt: a Natural or Expedient Measure?—Review of Debt, the First 5000 Years

Abstract

Debt goes time and space, spanning 5,000 years of human history. Clarifying the nature of debt is of great theoretical and practical significance to the study of market and government operation and social progress. In view of the essential problem of debt, this paper adopts the literature sorting method and reads the book Debt, The First 5000 Years and relevant literature, and draws three conclusions: (1) the origin of the history of money may be the virtual currency and credit system, and the imagined "barter" economic model did not exist. Money, therefore, was not born "bartering"; the state created the market, and the market needed the state. (2) the creativity of the book is mainly reflected in the analysis of the human economy, put forward the gift economy, human economy and "military-coinage - slavery synthesis" of novel expressions, and finally gives a bold idea of the cancellation of all international and consumer debt. (3) the limitations of the book's capitalist perspective are very obvious. There is a misjudgment of Chinese culture and human customs, and a glorification of the shameless scandals of the Spanish and Portuguese invaders. All these are blind adherence to the capitalist system and ignorance of socialism.