Bailout 'Of the People, By the People' Exposes Bankers' Greed

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/12-6


The Rolling Jubilee telethon will air Thursday, November 15 and can be live streamed on rollingjubilee.org

A coalition of activists looking to build popular resistance to predatory lending kicked off a new initiative, The Rolling Jubilee, to challenge the status quo of debt collection by purchasing distressed debts and then—rather than collecting on it—wiping the slate clean.

The Occupy offshoot, Strike Debt, will hold a telethon and variety show called "The People's Bailout" in New York on Nov. 15 to raise money for the cause. For pennies on the dollar ($32 for every $1), individuals or companies can buy distressed debt—including student loans and outstanding medical bills—from lenders if the borrower is either behind their payments or in default. Whereas traditional debt collectors then hound the debtor to pay up, the Rolling Jubilee is bunking the system by erasing the debt and, therefore, liberating the debtor.

Rolling Jubilee, whose website went live on Monday, has already raised over $87,000 to abolish $1.7 million worth of debt. According to writer and Jubilee organizer David Rees, the group has already performed a test run on the debt market by spending $500 on distressed debt, buying $14,000 worth of outstanding loans and pardoning the debtors.