“And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.” (Leviticus 25:8–12, King James Bible, Old Testament)
Debt forgiveness (every 50 years according to the Old Testament) was a common virtue in the Neolithic period going back to the Babylonians whose mathematicians understood that debt increases exponentially whereas economies grow according to an S-shaped function (see Figure 1), such that if the debt is not periodically forgiven then the society is driven into maximal wealth disparity causing social conflagration pitting the poor against the rich (see Figure 2 and Hudson 2018).
Since the 1980’s the total debt of the United States has been on an upward trajectory, measured as a percent of gross domestic product with 2024’s value being 326% (see Figure 3). Debt augmentation was especially true for household and government debt. Notice that financial debt was reduced following the 2008 stock market crash, which caused a further impoverishment of the citizenry through publicly funded bailouts of privately run institutions. Two solutions have been proposed to remedy the problem of US debt: Stephen Bannon, the architect of the MAGA movement, has recommended that monies be transferred from the rich to the poor by imposing high taxes on the wealthy (Spross 2017), whereas Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the MAGA movement, wants to accelerate the wealth transfer from the poor to the rich by imposing tariffs (which is a regressive tax) and by creating a central bank using stablecoins which would be under the governorship of his family members (Klein 2025). If Donald Trump should engineer a third term, expect all of America’s wealth to be off-shored into personal bank accounts, a process that was championed by his late colleague in crime, Jeffrey Epstein (Levine 2020). Ergo, do not expect any debt forgiveness under the leadership of Donald Trump, whose greed can never be satisfied (see Footnote 1).
Footnote 1: Plato’s Republic discusses the obsession of wealth acquisition since it can become a limitless quest to satisfy an out-of-control addiction. The greatest wealth according to Plato is to live comfortably with the fewest things.
Figure 1: Aggregate debt is plotted as a function of time juxtaposed against aggregate economic growth. Notice that once economic growth begins to reach relative asymptote the income disparity accelerates (for many mature economies economic growth continues at a reduced rate although economic collapse is also possible as experience by Greece between 2009 and 2018). The creation of debt by the issuance of loans (IOUs, I Owe You) to support agricultural production during the Neolithic period, for example, was such that the debt typically preceded the harvest of the crops (Hudson 2018). This fact also supports the idea that money is created by creditors to enable production within an economy (Hudson 2018; Werner 2003). (file: bible_020.gif)
Figure 2: Aggregate incentive is plotted as a function of increased disparity. The peak of this function indicates the optimal disparity of income in society. The figure is derived from an understanding of the Gini coefficient. At the highest level of disparity, a society starts to break down since citizens no longer have an incentive to participate in the economy (file: bible_016.gif)
Figure 3: Total US debt is plotted as a percentage of gross domestic product from 1945 to 2020. Data from the US Federal Reserve, US Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2020. (file: bible_019.jpg)
You Edward J Tehovnik have provided a detailed analysis of U.S. debt trends and political proposals related to wealth redistribution and economic policy.
The question of whether American oligarchs—or wealthy elites—are willing to forgive or forgive significant portions of debt owed by citizens is complex and depends on various factors, including economic interests, political pressures, and societal expectations.
Historically, debt forgiveness on a large scale (such as student loans, medical debt, or national debt) has been a contentious issue. Wealthy individuals and corporations may have incentives to oppose widespread debt forgiveness because it can impact financial markets, interest rates, and their own profits. Conversely, some philanthropists or progressive advocates argue for debt relief as a means to promote economic equality and social stability.
Currently, there is very limited evidence suggesting that the US oligarchs as a collective are actively pushing for widespread debt forgiveness. Most proposals for debt relief tend to come from policymakers, activists, or government initiatives rather than directly from the wealthy elite. However, some billionaires and influential figures have expressed support for certain debt forgiveness programs, especially in the context of student loans or medical debt relief.
While some wealthy individuals may support specific debt cancellation efforts, it is not broadly clear that American oligarchs are collectively prepared to forgive large-scale debts of the citizenry. The dynamics involve economic, political, and social considerations that influence their stance.
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