Now & Then

Forgiving (and Unforgiving) Debts

How have Americans viewed personal debt over the course of history? What can the morality and functionality of debt tell us about the debate over President Bident’s student loan forgiveness program? 

Heather and Joanne discuss the history of debtors’ prisons in early America, the rise of bankruptcy laws after the Civil War, and the Cold War origins of federal student loans. 

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For references &amp; supplemental materials, head to :cafe.com/now-and-then/forgiving-and-unforgiving-debts/

Now &amp; Then is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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How can the past help inform today’s most pressing challenges? Every Wednesday, award-winning historians Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman use their encyclopedic knowledge of US history to bring the past to life. Together, they make sense of the week in news by discussing the people, ideas, and events that got us here today. Now and Then is produced by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.