A debt, according to Graeber, is a promise to pay. A promise that can be quantified by money. In other words a debt is a social currency, in which you trust someone to pay you back for a service or good. However promises, as we know, are not always kept. Similarly debt are not always paid back in full. A debt that I would have no problem paying back in full would be a loan from a family member. A debt I would have no problem not paying back is a government loan to a company to keep that company open. An example of this type of debt is GM. And finally a type of debt I don’t know whether or not I would pay back is a bank loan on a foreclosed home. In these cases what matter is who made the loan, and whether or not I was the person who agreed
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For example if I needed money to start up a business or buy a home, and this money was borrowed from a member of my family, I would absolutely pay this debt back. The lender of the debt matters. If you have an emotional attachment to the lender, you would absolutely pay that person back. This is especially true if the lender is family. When you get a loan from a family member you look them in the eye and promise to pay them back. There are no loan applications, or calls from creditors, there is just a promise you gave to a person you share blood with. When you apply for a loan from a bank, there isn’t an emotional connection you feel towards the bank, and neither is there a fear that you will somehow let the bank down by not paying back this loan. But in the case that you are in debt to a family member, there is a stigma or a shame you feel until you pay this person back. This is very similar to the first types of debts that sprung up over the course of human history. The debts that occurred in small villages, where everyone knew each other, and had an emotional bond with one and other. Today of course, this simply isn’t the case. The exception to this would be a loan from family. Personally I would not feel right reneging on a debt that I owed to a family member. It would be a moral obligation of mine to make sure every penny of the debt would be pay back as soon as humanly possible. In this type of debt what it comes down to is the relationship with the lender. That is why this is a type of debt I would absolutely pay
For example if I needed money to start up a business or buy a home, and this money was borrowed from a member of my family, I would absolutely pay this debt back. The lender of the debt matters. If you have an emotional attachment to the lender, you would absolutely pay that person back. This is especially true if the lender is family. When you get a loan from a family member you look them in the eye and promise to pay them back. There are no loan applications, or calls from creditors, there is just a promise you gave to a person you share blood with. When you apply for a loan from a bank, there isn’t an emotional connection you feel towards the bank, and neither is there a fear that you will somehow let the bank down by not paying back this loan. But in the case that you are in debt to a family member, there is a stigma or a shame you feel until you pay this person back. This is very similar to the first types of debts that sprung up over the course of human history. The debts that occurred in small villages, where everyone knew each other, and had an emotional bond with one and other. Today of course, this simply isn’t the case. The exception to this would be a loan from family. Personally I would not feel right reneging on a debt that I owed to a family member. It would be a moral obligation of mine to make sure every penny of the debt would be pay back as soon as humanly possible. In this type of debt what it comes down to is the relationship with the lender. That is why this is a type of debt I would absolutely pay