The Occupy Wall Street protests were aimed at bringing awareness to the huge inequalities in the American and worldwide financial systems. These inequalities are often cited as contributing to the recent recession. Personal Debt in the form of medical bills, student loans, credit card debt, and home loans are financially destroying average Americans in Texas and elsewhere. Now an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, known as Strike Debt, is looking to directly relieve Americans of their personal debt.

Strike Debt has organized its own debt forgiveness program known as the Rolling Jubilee. The aim of the Rolling Jubilee is to purchase consumer debts on the debt market and then forgive the debts. The chosen consumers will then receive a certified letter informing them that their amount owed has been forgiven. This attempt to put a dent in the $11.4 trillion of consumer debt in America is based on the biblical idea of jubilee, under which debts were forgiven and indentured servants were set free.

Organizers say the program has already raised $300,000, which they plan to use to buy up consumer debt at cents on the dollar. With the money they have raised so far the group could theoretically forgive $6 million in debt. The group plans to first help people with their medical bills and then with student loans next. Strike Debt then plans to move onto to helping consumers with their credit card debt.

Acknowledging the good intent, the Rolling Jubilee will only forgive a small percentage of the consumer debt in Texas and elsewhere. Organizers say that's beside the point. They say they just want to keep the conversation going about debt inequality.

What that means is that many consumers will remain overburdened with medical bills, education debt and unpaid credit card amounts. Fortunately, those who still have such problems continue to have bankruptcy available. This is often a responsible approach to confront debt and laying a foundation for renewed financial stability.

Source: KSL.com