This is a beautiful idea. Straight from the Bible, too [1].
But I wonder how many citizens are right on the edge of these limits? That would really suck if you had a monthly income only slightly higher than 1,250 kuna. Also, if you have 40,000 kuna in debt, is the first 35,000 wiped out? Or none at all, because you're over the limit?
> They cannot have any other property or savings.
What if you have 2,000 kuna in savings, but you're still 37,000 kuna in debt?
I think a function might be fairer than hard thresholds. Maybe take monthly income as a parameter, and then wipe out lots of debt for the extremely poor, a bit less for people who are closer to the poverty threshold, and none for anyone who has a reasonable monthly income. Round the output to the nearest 1,000 kuna. Sure, it's more complex, but we have computers now.
Also, "The government will not pay the debts; the creditors will simply absorb them." That really sucks for the creditors, even though those debts probably had a low chance of being repaid. But it just feels wrong to force a company to forgive debts. Surely the right way is to use taxpayer money, or take a hit on inflation.
I really want to read the actual bill. Does anyone have an English translation?
But I wonder how many citizens are right on the edge of these limits? That would really suck if you had a monthly income only slightly higher than 1,250 kuna. Also, if you have 40,000 kuna in debt, is the first 35,000 wiped out? Or none at all, because you're over the limit?
> They cannot have any other property or savings.
What if you have 2,000 kuna in savings, but you're still 37,000 kuna in debt?
I think a function might be fairer than hard thresholds. Maybe take monthly income as a parameter, and then wipe out lots of debt for the extremely poor, a bit less for people who are closer to the poverty threshold, and none for anyone who has a reasonable monthly income. Round the output to the nearest 1,000 kuna. Sure, it's more complex, but we have computers now.
Also, "The government will not pay the debts; the creditors will simply absorb them." That really sucks for the creditors, even though those debts probably had a low chance of being repaid. But it just feels wrong to force a company to forgive debts. Surely the right way is to use taxpayer money, or take a hit on inflation.
I really want to read the actual bill. Does anyone have an English translation?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_%28biblical%29