Occupy Wall Street's visibility may have been reduced in recent
months, but that's only because the movement has been working hard
under-the-radar to launch the next big phase of its protest: The
People's Bailout.
As part of a new initiative called "The Rolling Jubilee," Occupy Wall Street-affiliated operatives at Strike
Debt
have been coordinating with attorney, the IRS, and "our moles in the
debt-brokerage world" to buy up distressed debt from lenders at bargain
basement prices in order to forgive it.
"To head off one common
question, we cannot buy specific individual's debt - instead, we help
liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good
will, and collective refusal," the organization said in a statement. "As a trial run, we spent $466 and successfully bought and abolished $14,000 of medical debt."
To help get the word out, OWS is holding a variety show and telethon next week
with the hopes of raising at least $50,000 — "which will likely allow
us to abolish more than $1,000,000 dollars worth of personal debt."
"This
is a simple, powerful way to help folks in need — to free them from
heavy debt loads so they can focus on being productive, happy and
healthy," said Rolling Jubilee organizer David Rees. "As you can see from our test run, the return on investment approaches 30:1. That's a crazy bargain!"
