This interview with Michael Hudson explains lots about what he has spent a career learning and trying to pass on. He also raises more questions for me than he answers.

Reshaping Christianity and the Modern State: A Journey from Usury to Fiscal Power

That’s called a Ponzi scheme. A debtor keeps solvent by borrowing the money to pay the interest and amortization falling due. I began to wonder how long U.S. banks would be able to continue financing this Ponzi scheme by lending debtor countries the money to enable them to pay their creditors.

He talks about debt forgiveness, but does not tell you important details about how it worked.

I thought that people would be more willing to accept the idea that cancelling debts was needed to avoid economic polarization and impoverishment if they could see how societies through the ages had dealt with the problem of debts exceeding the ability of large parts of the economy to pay.