Debt, Greece, and the Fight Back

Debt means different things to different people. For a family with two modest income jobs (if their lucky enough to have jobs), a mortgage and two kids in college, debt is the only route to having a reasonable standard of living with some guarantee of the satisfaction of health care needs or other insurances against the contingencies of life. Debt and its burdens count as a withdrawal against future income and wealth. For most people – and most people fit this profile to some extent – mortgages, credit cards, home equity loans and other forms of borrowing – are the only bridge to a level of comfort available to the previous generation of working people.

For the professional and small business class – what Marx called the petite-bourgeoisie – debt is the mechanism that provides a standard of living that establishes a common bond and identity with the very rich. Jumbo mortgages, expensive car loans, small business loans, and lines of credit support membership in the clubs, associations, and parties of the wealthy, while greasing the track of access to business and social contacts.

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