about Debt

I eventually borrowed the book "Debt: the first 5000 Years" by David Grae from our library -- I always feel UM library is really good at new books and at least I can find what I need in most of the time. So I began diving into this book since this afternoon.

Just several pages at the beginning of the book, I was attracted by the author's questioning on our common sense about debt --"one has to pay one's debts"?

I guess I know people donot have to pay for their debt, but, as the author says later in the paragraph, like most people, I would say failing to pay one's debt is not a good behavior and people who like borrowing money are not good. However, I never think about where my common opinion on the liability of debt and the behavior of borrowing money is from, or more further what the impact of this common opinion is to normal people, to a state and to the world. The author lists our several examples. For example, the IMF, which the author wants to abolish it, said in the book because through the form of IMF, certain big country or countries can influence or control the economy of another country. Also, the author cites another example of a report by a French anthropologist about a region of the eastern Himalaayas, where there is a clear hierarchy: people in lower class are living like salves to their landlord in order to pay back the "debt" they own their master, where the "debt" seems an opinion given by the landlord instead of the real product or monetary owing.

I just start reading this book. Actually I was planing to read the "Business Cycles" book, but now it seems I am more for this debt book.  Like the title given to my blog, I hope I can be an independent thinker or at least try to have independent opinion particularly "common" things people are following. The whole idea of being independent thinking, I think, should make myself skeptical to rules or routines and have a relatively objective judgement on what I saw or heard so that I can make the best use of the current situation to reach my goal. Apparently, I am far from that.