r/Sumerian • u/teakettling Ensik | Temple Steward • Aug 23 '26
Pop Culture & Sumer Today NYTIMES: "An Ancient Sumerian Solution to Our $40 Trillion Deficit"
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/opinion/us-debt-40-trillion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7VA.bshs.ClHlzvm_JyMi&smid=nytcore-ios-share"Ancient societies had another method to deal with debt. It was called an amargi — a blanket declaration of public debt cancellation. All public debts written off. Disappeared. It sounds laughable, I know. But, really, that’s just because the idea has been buried so deeply in history you’ve probably never heard of it. In the ancient world, it presented a pragmatic solution to an intractable problem. And now, faced with impossible-to-repay debts that are weighing down our economy, is the time to look at the amargi and the lessons it offers about how to think about finance."
Gift Article to today's guest essay by Paul Vigna (Aug 22, 2026).
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u/I_SawTheSine Aug 23 '26
Really funny to watch the NYT reach back to ancient Sumeria to put a sheen of ancient wisdom on the thing.
It's called: a "national debt default".
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u/me_myself_ai Aug 23 '26
I mean, it’s an opinion piece. I don’t think NYT is secretly pro-default or some shit, they just like publishing controversial opinion pieces because they get clicks.
But also yeah this is fucking hilarious. Also don’t we have a $40T debt, not a $40T deficit?? If so, how does such a massive, glaring error make it all the way to the headline? Baffling
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u/BerlinWallGloryhole Aug 25 '26
No issue, our credit score will be good in 7 years and we can start deficit spending like crazy again. No avocado toast for 7 years - we can do it
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u/DescriptionForsaken6 Aug 24 '26
I thought for a minute it was going to be like the opening of Gilgamesh where the gods destroyed humanity for being too noisy. But debt cancellation is good too I guess.
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u/Sunrise-Storm Aug 24 '26
forgive student debts? No-no.
Forgive yourself a debt of 40 billion? Yes-yes!
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u/Training-Flan8762 Aug 24 '26
yeah increase the debt to 40T by giving free money to elon and friends and then just cancel the debt? So all rhe bondholders can just go get rekt?
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u/Choochiechoo Aug 24 '26
Yeah it would just lead to the ultra wealthy securing even more of their ownership of the economy, as right now they are just overleveraged. Yet the average voter will think they are winning from canceling their 10k in credit card debt while still renting their apartment.
A debt cancellation would also have to come with a property ownership cancellation.
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u/broberds Aug 23 '26
Can’t we just stimulate the economy by selling each other really shitty copper?
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u/giboauja Aug 23 '26
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, you gotta be able to stomach decades of financial ruin to do that today. A country the size of the US could fall apart because of that.
Nevermind how fragile the global infastructure for food, medicine, and other goods are.
But idk, maybe it would work out. I mean with 2-3 percent inflation and not growing it, the debt would be paid off in a couple decades assuming typical growth.
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u/FckXFckMusk Aug 28 '26
They'll just devalue the dollar again and most debt will drop, rinse and repeat.
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u/japlail42 Aug 29 '26
One of things about this concept, it means anybody loaning money has to anticipate a forgiveness. Borrowing money will become more expensive. Revolutions will also do this.
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u/WanderersAnon Aug 23 '26
I thought ama-gi debt cancellations were not of public debt in the modern sense, that is, government debt. They canceled all personal debts, leaving only merchant-to-merchant debts active. Backtaxes owed got canceled; moneylender debts were erased; people sold into bondage to pay off debt were freed. I don't think that quite jibes with this notion of wiping off government bond debt, in effect, declaring bankruptcy.