US Debt Hits $40 Trillion as Opinion Revives 4,400-Year-Old Amargi Debt Cancellation
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 22
US Debt Hits $40 Trillion as Opinion Revives 4,400-Year-Old Amargi Debt Cancellation
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 22
Summary
$40 trillion in federal debt has prompted a New York Times opinion essay to argue that conventional fixes are no longer enough and to revive the ancient Sumerian idea of amargi—broad public debt cancellation.
$77 trillion in combined U.S. federal, state, corporate and household debt, against roughly $32 trillion in annual GDP, is presented as evidence that compounding interest has pushed the burden beyond normal remedies such as growth, tax hikes or inflation.
4,400 years ago, Mesopotamian rulers used amargi to erase public debts, free debt bondsmen and restore lost land, while often leaving merchant-to-merchant debts intact as a way to prevent social breakdown.
$350 trillion in global debt—about three times world GDP—frames the essay’s wider warning that debt overload can destabilize societies, even though past debt jubilees often faced fierce resistance from elites.