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By Jim Heffernan<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about a term I\u2019ve encountered recently. The term is \u201cdebt peonage\u201d and the writer Thom Hartmann introduced it to me.<\/p>\n
Indentured servitude is a form of debt peonage.\u00a0 An indentured servant agrees to work for a certain period of time for their master and at the end of their term they become a freeman.\u00a0 Sometimes they are simply workers and sometimes they are apprentices of a trade.<\/p>\n
My first direct ancestor in North America was a man listed as \u201cJohn Tidd, a servant\u201d. \u00a0He landed in Charleston, Massachusetts in 1637.\u00a0 Seven years later he was a \u201cselectman\u201d in Exeter, New Hampshire.\u00a0 I suspect he agreed to the servitude to gain passage for the trip to a New World.\u00a0 Nearly half of the Europeans who came here in the 15th. and 16th. centuries came here as indentured servants.<\/p>\n
History tells us that the custom started to die out around the time of the American Revolution.\u00a0 In a lot a ways, it did not so much die out as change names.\u00a0 We use names like \u201ctenant farmers\u201d, \u201csharecroppers\u201d and \u201ccontractors\u201d to describe them now.\u00a0 Our history is filled with \u201ccompany towns\u201d and country music leaves us with the song \u201cSixteen Tons\u201d* <\/strong>with its mournful chorus, \u201cSaint Peter don\u2019t call me, cuz I cant go.\u00a0 I owe my soul to the company store.\u201d<\/p>\n Its cruelest form was not indentured at all, it was slavery.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t believe it is much of a stretch to also call debt and \u201cemployee benefits\u201d a form of indentured servitude or debt peonage.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never understood the widespread opposition to \u201cObamacare\u201d.\u00a0 Could it be that the widespread availability of health insurance for everybody might reduce\u00a0 an employer\u2019s hold on us.\u00a0 Maybe the argument isn\u2019t really about insurance at all.\u00a0 Maybe the argument is about being \u201cindentured\u201d by the siren of \u201cemployee benefits\u201d.\u00a0 Employers might have to treat their employees differently if they were freer to move about without fear of losing their insurance coverage.<\/p>\n Maybe I\u2019m too quick to see conspiracies, but I\u2019m highly suspicious about the two specters of real estate debt and student debt.\u00a0 I can\u2019t help but think that they are both manipulated.\u00a0 I think partly to keep us distracted, but mainly to transfer a larger and larger share of wealth away from the working and middle classes to the oligarchy in charge.<\/p>\n Google tells me that $2,000 in 1900 increases 2.94% per year.\u00a0 $2000 in 1900 thus becomes $68,666 in 2022.<\/p>\n In Denver, I lived in a fine old Victorian house that cost $2,000 in 1900.\u00a0 I bought the house for $15,000 in 1970.\u00a0 I was delighted to sell the house for $50,000 in 1979.\u00a0 My mortgage was $7,500 when I sold. In 2020, the house sold for $685,000.\u00a0 $550,000 is the outstanding mortgage.<\/p>\n $2,000, in 1900 becomes $15,302 in 1970.\u00a0 Money and house price ($15,000) are tracking pretty close to each other.<\/p>\n $2,000 in 1900 becomes $19,732 in 1979.\u00a0 Money and house price ($50,000) are out of step.<\/p>\n $2000 in 1900 becomes $68,666 in 2022,.\u00a0 Money and house price ($685,000) are way, way out of step.<\/p>\n This progression has obvious winners and losers.\u00a0 Taxes were $30 a month when I left, now they\u2019re $285 a month.\u00a0 House payment was $145 a month when I left, now they\u2019re $3,100 a month.\u00a0 The city and the mortgage holders are big winners.\u00a0 The next generations who looking for a place to live are big, big losers.\u00a0 They are trapped in an everlasting cycle of debt peonage.<\/p>\n Student debt is another debt peonage trap that has been set for our next generations.\u00a0 Look at the tables below and absorb what the numbers mean.\u00a0 Particularly note how comparatively stagnant the rise in minimum wage has been.<\/p>\n Plain and simple, we\u2019ve invented an entirely new type of debt peonage.\u00a0 43 million Americans are now carrying student debt because it is no longer possible to finance college through part-time work.\u00a0 To make matters worse, we\u2019ve passed legislation that removes normal consumer protection from student loans.<\/p>\n In my fantasy life, I would jump in with an answer to the problem of debt peonage at this point.\u00a0 In real life, I am flummoxed for an answer.<\/p>\n Debt peonage puts enormous strains on the fabric of our society.\u00a0 It seems to me, that our choices are to find solutions together or wait until the fabric rips apart completely.<\/p>\n As always, I welcome honest, respectful discussion at codger817@gmail.com<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n *\u00a0 Song was giant hit for Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955\u00a0 Here\u2019s a YouTube link https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3tXJokkWQjY<\/a><\/p>\n Sources<\/p>\n Thom Hartmann\u2019s book \u201cThe Hidden History of\u00a0 Oligarchy\u201d <\/em>(2021)<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.zillow.com\/homedetails\/2442-King-St-Denver-CO-80211\/13316215_zpid\/<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.intelligent.com\/1970-v-2020-how-working-through-college-has-changed\/<\/p>\n (I was very impressed by the intelligent.com web site.\u00a0 It seems a wonderful source for those thinking of college.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.tillamookcountypioneer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Jimhefftuitioncostfchart.jpg\")
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