Strike Debt: Rolling Jubilee

[emilynghiem]

One year later, Occupy has a brilliant new plan: A people’s bailout | Death and Taxes

It took a while, but a new offshoot group that grew out of Occupy called Strike Debt has a highly specific, highly brilliant plan for how to improve the lot of the 99%: It’s called Rolling Jubilee, and it’s basically a crowd-funding campaign to buy up big swaths of people’s debt and simply cancel it. It’s sort of like the economic equivalent of buying slaves to free them.

Here’s how it works: All kinds of debt, from student loans to credit card to mortgages, are sold by the people who originally made the loans to collectors eager for the chance to take the interest payments on those loans for years to come. Loans get bundled into big groups and sold as securities on the open market. Rolling Jubilee will raise money through crowd-funding and use that money to buy bundled loans like any other institution—but once they own the debt, rather than collecting on it they’ll simply cancel it.

You’ve probably heard of a simliar thing happening when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae buy mortgages from banks or debt collectors buy debt from credit card companies—one day in the mail you get a notice saying, Your debt is now owned by this guy—please keep paying. In this case, however, you’d get a note saying, Your debt is now owned by Strike Debt, and they’ve voided it—your balance is now $0.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there are a couple ways this doesn’t work: First, you can’t ask the Rolling Jubilee to please personally pay off your student loan. The Jubilee will be buying securitized debt bundles just like other institutions, which means they’re not targeting individual loans. Incidentally, the individuals paying these loans have no idea that they’ve been “bundled.” So while you may choose to donate to the Rolling Jubilee there is no guarantee that it’ll personally benefit you.

I certainly know the kind of people around here that would HATE this sort of thing. They'd rather pay their debts off like honest hardworking folks.

Dear Cowman and Occupied:
Do you have any contacts with this group to start another chapter?
I tried to set up a plan for Occupy Houston to work in a national historic district
on a sustainable financial plan with microloans to turn the debts around owed
to taxpayers and buy out the district as a campus.

Can you help me contact someone connected with the jubilee/strike debt movement?

I found this so far
The Rolling Jubilee Mails its First Debt Forgiveness Letters - New York - News - Runnin' Scared

thank you!
Emily

P.S. I have 50K to 60K in debts from borrowing on credit to float
nonprofit community groups denied funding while they fixed
damages done by govt abuses to their low-income communties.
so I ask help to pay back these debts to reinvest in the sustainable
programs not to pay me back but pay it forward and build campus
sites to break the cycle of poverty:
http://www.houstonprogressive.org
http://www.rightsfortheworkers.org
====================================================================
Here is the email I just sent to the strike debt website.
do you know anyone else I can contact for help for a national campaign
to buy out a national historic site to build a sustainable campus?

Hi and thanks to all organizers and team
for your successful outreach and impact
with rolling jubilee and strike debt.
I had been involved with Occupy Houston
and one PR person with Occupy the Dream.
I am still in contact with key members and leaders
still working in Houston and elsewhere.

Can you please help me contact some
mentors or team advisers on setting up
a special program in Houston focused
on getting taxpayers paid back?

below are some sites on where I was
working with Occupy before the
group got evicted from the park.
I had set up two houses near the camp
for Occupy to use as office space
in anticipation of eviction. the group
lasted for awhile but bullies kicked
me and other people off the project
we were paying for, so I was left with debts.

So I ask help to pay this back by investing
in buying land to build a sustainable campus.

http://www.freedmenstown.com
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/worksong.html
http://www.rightsfortheworkers.org

Please advise with any referrals or help
thank you
Emily Nghiem
7138205130

 

[emilynghiem]

When I contacted this group, they couldn't focus on particular debts to wipe out.
I wanted to focus on helping communities acquire land to get out of poverty and abusive govt evicting and demolishing
to destroy a history district by kicking out and shutting down the communities and nonprofits to sell out to corporate interests.

Here is an update on Occupy, buying out student debts:
Occupy abolishes 4 million in other people s student loan debt - Yahoo Finance

At least these Occupy members are doing what liberal Democrats are criticized for NOT doing:
Putting their own money where their mouths are! They are still using collective donations from other people,
but at least these are VOLUNTARY donations -- not forced taxation on people who don't agree to pay these debts!

Now if we can just get the Democrats and Greens to follow this model
and fund health care voluntarily for those who believe in Single Payer, maybe a system can be set up
for those members and quit fighting over policies. Just set it up, fund it and do it directly!

if Occupy volunteers can get it right in loose groups with no funding, don't tell me organized parties can't!

 

[KissMy]

A lottery will raise more money for Occupy Wallstreet much faster.

Take that money & buy large chunks of toxic bad debt CDO's for pennies on the dollar from Wallstreet banks. Then pay off enough of each persons debts in a CDO to make them on time paying good credit risk's and or re-shuffle & re-package these debtors to take the CDO's credit rating from toxic junk to AAA. It will be worth more than what you paid for it. Sell it to a Wallstreet bank, take their money & keep repeating this on a never ending larger & larger scale. This could grow large enough to fix most debtors. The Wallstreet scum will unknowingly be funding this Occupy revolution.

Have the people who's debt you cancel commit to pay it forward community service.

 

[Ernie S.]

77% are in debt? Sure! A lot of people have mortgages or student loans. Yup student loans outstanding have gone up dramatically in 25 years. More people going to college and paying 5 times the tuition.
Debt to income ratio? Are they saying your mortgage should equal one year's salary? Less?

 

[AvgGuyIA]

One year later, Occupy has a brilliant new plan: A people’s bailout | Death and Taxes

It took a while, but a new offshoot group that grew out of Occupy called Strike Debt has a highly specific, highly brilliant plan for how to improve the lot of the 99%: It’s called Rolling Jubilee, and it’s basically a crowd-funding campaign to buy up big swaths of people’s debt and simply cancel it. It’s sort of like the economic equivalent of buying slaves to free them.

Here’s how it works: All kinds of debt, from student loans to credit card to mortgages, are sold by the people who originally made the loans to collectors eager for the chance to take the interest payments on those loans for years to come. Loans get bundled into big groups and sold as securities on the open market. Rolling Jubilee will raise money through crowd-funding and use that money to buy bundled loans like any other institution—but once they own the debt, rather than collecting on it they’ll simply cancel it.

You’ve probably heard of a simliar thing happening when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae buy mortgages from banks or debt collectors buy debt from credit card companies—one day in the mail you get a notice saying, Your debt is now owned by this guy—please keep paying. In this case, however, you’d get a note saying, Your debt is now owned by Strike Debt, and they’ve voided it—your balance is now $0.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there are a couple ways this doesn’t work: First, you can’t ask the Rolling Jubilee to please personally pay off your student loan. The Jubilee will be buying securitized debt bundles just like other institutions, which means they’re not targeting individual loans. Incidentally, the individuals paying these loans have no idea that they’ve been “bundled.” So while you may choose to donate to the Rolling Jubilee there is no guarantee that it’ll personally benefit you.

I certainly know the kind of people around here that would HATE this sort of thing. They'd rather pay their debts off like honest hardworking folks.

I like this idea. Please call me to make arrangements.

Junior
BR-549

 

[BluesLegend]

By the way how much is it costing me to foot the bill for the million plus people a year who file bankruptcy and skip out on their debts? Excluding the original reason for this safety net of course, an unexpected medical emergency or major illness for example. How many deadbeats who borrowed and spent like there's no tomorrow then skipped town am I subsidizing?

 

[KissMy]

By the way how much is it costing me to foot the bill for the million plus people a year who file bankruptcy and skip out on their debts? Excluding the original reason for this safety net of course, an unexpected medical emergency or major illness for example. How many deadbeats who borrowed and spent like there's no tomorrow then skipped town am I subsidizing?

Defaulted student debt & home loans are not costing nearly as much as subsidizing Wallstreet & allowing them to bankrupt only on their bad assets while keeping all their ill-gotten wealth. Dumping toxic crap onto bad corps that go bankrupt while shielding lucrative assets in good corps is S.O.P for Wallstreet.

 

[BluesLegend]

By the way how much is it costing me to foot the bill for the million plus people a year who file bankruptcy and skip out on their debts? Excluding the original reason for this safety net of course, an unexpected medical emergency or major illness for example. How many deadbeats who borrowed and spent like there's no tomorrow then skipped town am I subsidizing?

Defaulted student debt & home loans are not costing nearly as much as subsidizing Wallstreet & allowing them to bankrupt only on their bad assets while keeping all their ill-gotten wealth. Dumping toxic crap onto bad corps that go bankrupt while shielding lucrative assets in good corps is S.O.P for Wallstreet.

Recommend you take this up with Barney Frank and Democratic party leaders.