Debt: The Third Certainty

The Third Certainty

“in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, 1789[i]

In today’s world nobody escapes death and taxes–nor debt.  In one way or another we are all creditors or debtors—often both—whether we live in Manhattan or on the plains of the Serengeti.  This blog features reflections on events in the world today informed by my latest book (in progress):  IOU:  The Coming Bankruptcy of Human Civilization.

This work is about debt, both economic and social debt; the role that debt plays in our lives and the power of both creditors and debtors to create, sustain, or on far too many occasions, destroy.  While you have no doubt heard Franklin’s famous quotation, perhaps you have also heard the intense political and economic arguments about debt in today’s world, but have you heard it spoken of in such stark terms as the subtitle of this book:   The Coming Bankruptcy of Human Civilization?  This book stresses an understanding that debt is, above all, a reciprocal social relation—though not an easy one to define and grasp in its many and changing manifestations.

This site provides a sociological analysis of national and global news, events, and other topics. We are particularly interested in debt as an unequal social relationship as well as the coming impact upon human civilization of global (and local) climate change.

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[i] Benjamin Franklin wrote in a 1789 letter that “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”  Similar wording is found earlier in Daniel Defoe, The History of the Devil, 1726:  “Things as certain as Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ’d: The Devil not have a Cloven-Foot! “ P. 269.  Project Gutenberg.  Release Date: January 23, 2010 [EBook #31053].  <https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31053/31053-h/31053-h.htm&gt;