Your Debt Is Someone Else’s Asset

Student loans, medical bills, credit cards — Americans are drowning in a record-breaking $15 trillion in debt.

Covering thousands of years in just under seven minutes, “Your Debt Is Someone Else’s Asset” ends with a rousing vision of the future: a world after a jubilee, an ancient term for the abolition of debts and rebalancing of power between the rich and the poor.

A collaboration between The Intercept; artist Molly Crabapple and her creative partners at Sharp As Knives productions; and writer Astra Taylor, this short film invites us to understand our debt in new ways. Our monthly payments are a source of profit, a form of wealth transfer from struggling borrowers to the well-to-do. These profits are a source of power; debt is never just about money. In the United States, debt has long been used as a form of social control and a tool of white supremacy.

Taylor is a co-founder of the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors’ union. This film reflects Taylor and the Debt Collective’s conviction that debtors and their allies will need to get organized to fight for the political and economic transformations we deserve.

[no-rzed]

THIS is the type of content I want to see on youtube

[lachummers]

What a therapeutic way to convey content. Loved the watercolor time lapse. Too bad so many attribute debt as personal responsibility without considering the higher costs of being poor. I was fully disabused of that notion when I read Nickeled And Dimed. It's expensive to be poor. I hope things change.

[nathasyapramudita]

Oh my, the topic and narration to the point and blatant. The visual so eyes catchy, I would gladly watching it 10x more just to see her drawing.

[rubenrodriguez]

Excellent work! Ms. Taylor did a superb job breaking down the information using simple and understandable terms, and Ms. Crabapple did an outstanding artwork to make this presentation even more relatable for those of us who are visual learners. Hope both creators come up with more educational masterpieces like these. To me given the ongoing economic collapse we are experiencing it's not a question of whether, but when we will get jubilee. Keep up with your awesome work.😊✊

[goldilox]

I'm all for Jubilee. I couldn't imagine how awesome this would be.

[greenvelvet]

For all the conservatives to say "liberals just want everything for free!". No, we don't.
we just want consistency all around.
if you're going to tax the working class, then hold the rich, powerful and wealthy to the same standards and accountability.

[FunBotan]

This is considerably more based than I expected...

[Deltelly]

Universal healthcare and government funding of all levels of education seems a good start to reduce debt, expecially if applied retrospectively to forgive or pay off existing debts. It's an interesting perspective shift in the video to see why such programs could have serious pushback from the investor class and those who manage and take commission from those investments. Wall street and co. are forever trying to expand the ways they can make even more money, even if that results in serious detriments to the local and international populations.

[djfreeman]

Amazing film! This sista needs an Award.

[DandelionLakewood]

Beautiful work. Let the debt strike begin!

[terryo]

Ah-MAZING animation! Great video as a whole but the animation was insane!

[Lily_of_the_Alley]

This needs to go viral, please share it everywhere with everyone,

[johnmarshalward]

If banks were left holding everyone's debit banks would hold your money hostage so you'll need cash to survive after a jubilee. That is kind of hard to do since everything is digital with bank cards and direct deposits. It might not be such a good idea unless things were done properly.

[sandinogomez]

I showed this to my students today and was stoked to do so. Please keep giving us amazing content like this!!! Thank you for your work. Cheers!

[waynebollman]

The big takeaway from this is that a jubilee will grow the economy and allow more people to buy houses and have kids, etc.
The problem with this is that economic growth and human reproduction are the two main things driving the collapse of the planet's biosphere and then, some say, our near term extinction. I know we all want and deserve some economic justice but.... can someone tie this all together for me in a way that results in a happy ending for humans?

[stephanierampley]

This was fantastic!! 💯 agree! I’m definitely sharing this. Great work 👏 👏

[RichardFenno]

Brilliant premise, wonderfully executed! It's time--it's really past time--to have this discussion!

[hhheee]

JUBILEE!!! JUBILEE!!! JUBILEE!!!
such a delightful word.

[stonerubber]

Excellent. Sending link to all my peeps.

[MrTwillert]

Why was there no mention of the current bankruptcy laws we have for average people? And how would a federal debt jubilee effect the economy? People should know better than to sign a debt that can’t be removed by bankruptcy. And people should learn not to acquire personal debt in general.
On another note DO NOT LET THE HOSPITAL TALK YOU INTO PUTTING THE DEBT ON CREDIT CARDS! They can’t transfer your debt without your permission as long as you are making payments.