mesopotamia and kings often canceled all debts on taking power. new canes, new world and new society. we start over. that became institutionalized in that cycle and in the middle ages, which was another period, reverts to bouillon and generally forgiven maybe 600 b.c. to 3680. with the middle ages the world goes back to credit systems and once again applies a vast cosmological overarching institution designed to protect debtors. in this case in islam and christianity. christianity was more strict than islam. a complete ban on interest along with other things that usually can along with it. it was considered critical for society didn't polarize and split apart. the rise of the economic system we have known comes after 1492 when bouillon comes weeping into europe again. most of that is in china. it swept through europe on the way. they go back to the idea that money is gold and silver. the idea of what money is changed. interest sort of worms its way back in. interesting how they did it. kind of subterfuge. the notion of interest actually goes back

completely in ancient mesopotamia to get most things that credit. coinage was only invented maybe two dozen years after the first accounts we have, for example, compounded interest rates or something like that. however, in periods where you have credit as the main form of money, it is hard to think of money as something, which is quite set in stone as it is in periods where people are actually in physical stock. this understatement is a social creation and usually there's some mechanism to make sure the whole system doesn't go crazy. for example, periodic cancellation, mesopotamia would often cancel all debts on taking power. all right, new king, new world, new society. we will just start over. that became institutionalized in the cycle and the bible. in the middle ages, which the another. a virtual credit buying it reverts to not surely forgiving when bullion dominates for maybe 600 d.c. two maybe 680. what the middle ages, world goes back to credit systems and once again finds vast cosmological overarching institutions designed to protect debtors.

commercial economy and especially when you have a debit card what would happen all the time in mesopotamia as people have pointed out and they actually would start taking away their children and their wives so this purchase became well is it a purchase or is it not and then you have the fact that it appropriate moral sexual relations in traditional societies are one where the money has changed hands but what happens to that when suddenly you know you have prostitution and cash being used for buying sexual services becomes a big problem and in fact it becomes really critical all of a sudden sort of separate who is the good girl and a bad girl and in a way this is how ancient patriarchy seems to have emerged in reaction to the market is even the first accounts of veils in middle eastern society they say well respectable married women have to wear veils slaves and prostitutes are not allowed to work at all and in fact all the laws the penalty the punishment is not on you know respectable women who don't wear veils this i assume to be so often worse make us but rather on the bad girls who actu

debt peonage so that the response was normally to put in some kind of mechanism a failsafe om in mesopotamia kings would simply declare a clean slate all debts are cancelled the biblical jew believe course every seven to forty nine years there is cancellations now. so usually silver debt which was commercial debt was left alone. but consumer debt was way down on everybody to start over again and the middle ages had a different tack they mostly had usury laws so lending money at interest was illegal also debt peonage itself so there's always some kind of mechanism to protect debtors now what happens this time. the first thing they do they get rid of the usury laws they create institutions like the i.m.f. or adopt institutions like the i.m.f. as a sort of global debt in force or other ones like the s. and p. you have this giant global bureaucracy essentially financial bureaucracy which is dedicated to the principle that no one can ever default. this is crazy i mean not only economically is it crazy but it's doing exactly the opposite of what people have historically done and if you look at the

been doing is going about things backwards if you look at the history of credit money starting in mesopotamia there was always some system in place to protect debtors and it makes sense because if you have virtual money if money is just an iou it's a promise an arrangement between people not intrinsically different than in any other promise you might make well the problem is first of all how do you go completely out of hand in people to start making crazy promises they can't keep and to how do you make sure that essentially most people don't end up becoming literally or figuratively slaves to the people with the money. that was the great social crisis of antiquity it was always the fear of a debt trap poor people would fall into hopeless debt to those people actually had the money they would end up having to sell off their lands or flocks eventual ie their wives and children themselves into slavery or debt peonage so that the response was normally to put in some kind of mechanism a failsafe om in taney of kings would simply declare a clean slate all debts are cancelled biblical to believe cou

been doing is going about things backwards if you look at the history of credit money starting in mesopotamia there was always some system in place to protect others and it makes sense because if you have virtual money if money is just an iou it's a promise an arrangement between people not intrinsically different than in any other promise you might make well the big problem is first of all how do you think otoh completely out of hand in people to start making crazy promises they can't keep and to how do you make sure that essentially most people don't end up becoming literally or figuratively slaves to the people with the money. that was the.

picked up one of my blog posts and scattered around the internet and this brought the wrath of mesopotamia down on me interesting and that's why you think that you are being intimidated and interrogated by the to depart you have to see yourself queen sweden has to happen but when after twenty three years i've never been interrogated by the diplomatic security people before when in twenty three years they've never gone back and reevaluated my travel vouchers and all of a sudden everything's under a microscope and i don't have taxi receipts from a trip to peru three years ago there's a lot of silly things that go on that let the let you know that they're looking what do you think they're trying to achieve if they want their money back or the taxis in peru which i wish i was happy to pay which i'm happy to pay back it was my mistake and i did that here for the very first time on your show but there you have it is it meant that you will give back the money by the fact is in peru yet. please stop harassing him over the blog posts it's getting i think. there's two things that are going on here o

who would buy into some hare-brained intellectualism that had our american troops ranging around mesopotamiaoting out baathists in some ideological cleansing operation that we americans have no more competence to carry out than we have a national interest in being involved in. so as we begin choosing our president this time around, it's good to remember the lessons of before. before you go rejecting one alternative for the other, consider what your new favorite is really all about. does he believe what you do about the role of government in american life? does he believe what you do about the role of america in the world? because while you can ignore this pair of mighty questions now, you won't be able to ignore them once we have a new president. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. >>> well, john boehner doesn't sound conciliatory anymore. >> feels like deja vu all over again. >> we must be honest with ourselves. >> mr. boehner basically saying thanks, but no thanks. >> speaker boehner stops pretending that he mig

in ancient mesopotamia they were doing most things by credit. coinage was only invented 2000 years after the first accounts we have for example, of compounded interest rates, things like that. however, in periods where you have credit as the main form of money, it's hard to think of money as something which is quite as set in stone as it is an figure people are using physical stuff. so it's understood money is -- there's some mechanism to make sure the whole system doesn't go crazy. for example, the jubilee's, periodic cancellation. mesopotamian kingswood often cancel all debts taking power. all right, new king, new world, new society. will just start over. that became institutionalized in the bible, but in the middle ages which is another period of virtual credit, reverts to bully them, debts are john not forgiven during the opinion from about 600 b.c., maybe 600 a.d. with the middle ages world goes back to credit systems and once again you find some sort of vast cosmological overarching institutions designed to protect debtors. in this case in

that happened a lot of places, egypt, mesopotamia, valley of mexico. the chinese established the first modern state, not based on hiring your cousins and friends who in the government, but based on civil service examination, centralized administration. they did this in the third century b.c. it's a historical achievement that i think a lot of people would not adequately recognize. instead of starting with england work reset realm and i'm going to the magna carta and demise of democracy in england, a maine license to certainly china. china created the first modern state. where their societies differ from china? that's the basic background. there are three important baskets of political institutions that we need to think about. the first is the state itself. the state is all about power. the stake is the ability to concentrate power in a hierarchy and use it to enforce rules over a particular territory. in the developing world and this again is why i think we sometimes take politics for granted. we assume that things will have been. you know, long-term i

that happened a lot of places, egypt, mesopotamia, valley of mexico. the chinese established the first modern state, not based on hiring your cousins and friends who in the government, but based on civil service examination, centralized administration. they did this in the third century b.c. it's a historical achievement that i think a lot of people would not adequately recognize. instead of starting with england work reset realm and i'm going to the magna carta and demise of democracy in england, a maine license to certainly china. china created the first modern state. where their societies differ from china? that's the basic background. there are three important baskets of political institutions that we need to think about. the first is the state itself. the state is all about power. the stake is the ability to concentrate power in a hierarchy and use it to enforce rules over a particular territory. in the developing world and this again is why i think we sometimes take politics for granted. we assume that things will have been. you know, long-term i

that happened a lot of places, egypt, mesopotamia, valley of mexico. the chinese established the first modern state, not based on hiring your cousins and friends who in the government, but based on civil service examination, centralized administration. they did this in the third century b.c. it's a historical achievement that i think a lot of people would not adequately recognize. instead of starting with england work reset realm and i'm going to the magna carta and demise of democracy in england, a maine license to certainly china. china created the first modern state. where their societies differ from china? that's the basic background. there are three important baskets of political institutions that we need to think about. the first is the state itself. the state is all about power. the stake is the ability to concentrate power in a hierarchy and use it to enforce rules over a particular territory. in the developing world and this again is why i think we sometimes take politics for granted. we assume that things will have been. you know, long-term i