Debtors prison is quite possibly the most unamerican practice one could instate. The US is more than a little unique with practices such as defaulting on debt being solely a civil matter and one with a 7 year statute of limitations. The US was founded on the idea that someone can repeatedly go bankrupt without any real consequences other than not being able to get future credit until debts are somehow settled or a decade has passed. It’s extremely British to instate debtors prison, criminal liability for defaulting on debt, legal liability for debt being inherited by next of kin upon death, and psycho shit like denying a person burial/cremation until their debt is paid.
Abolishing that British practice of putting all liability on the barrower was one of the petite bourgeoisie goals of the US founders. A big change was all debts dying with the original debtors rather than being inherited by next of kin. One of the major revolutionary changes the US brought about was the idea that almost all liability is on the lender (unless the barrower knowingly commited fraud, ie lied while being evaluated for credit) because they should have been more responsible in gauging risk since extending credit is no different than any other form of gambling/speculation.
Debtors prison is quite possibly the most unamerican practice one could instate. The US is more than a little unique with practices such as defaulting on debt being solely a civil matter and one with a 7 year statute of limitations. The US was founded on the idea that someone can repeatedly go bankrupt without any real consequences other than not being able to get future credit until debts are somehow settled or a decade has passed. It’s extremely British to instate debtors prison, criminal liability for defaulting on debt, legal liability for debt being inherited by next of kin upon death, and psycho shit like denying a person burial/cremation until their debt is paid.
Abolishing that British practice of putting all liability on the barrower was one of the petite bourgeoisie goals of the US founders. A big change was all debts dying with the original debtors rather than being inherited by next of kin. One of the major revolutionary changes the US brought about was the idea that almost all liability is on the lender (unless the barrower knowingly commited fraud, ie lied while being evaluated for credit) because they should have been more responsible in gauging risk since extending credit is no different than any other form of gambling/speculation.