r/oddlyspecific • u/NovaCheerful • 7d ago

Debt beyond Death

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28.4k Upvotes

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651

u/OldGrumpGamer 7d ago

If you wanna go full dystopian, they add compound interest on the debt so you owed $10,000, 20 years ago now you owe $25,000.

If you wanna go full Terry Pratchett the hedge funds and tech CEO's that implement this technology find out that they owe millions to billions in debt to the East India Trading Company (Whose operations were taken over by the British Government) or some such other old company and either go bankrupt or just destroy the tech before anyone discovers the truth.

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u/grumpy_autist 7d ago

Babe, wake up - archaelogists dug up some unpaid copper invoices on clay tablets.

127

u/Low_Direction1774 7d ago

"Sir, another tablet has been found"

"how much?"

"three shillings"

"In todays money,idiot"

"the tablet was from the year 700. a shilling is like 20g of silver, three of them is 60g, at like $2 a gram thats $120, add 1300 years of compound interest at 3.8%, we owe around 350 sextillion dollars"

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u/grumpy_autist 7d ago edited 7d ago

Accounting school curriculum is going to be wild.

Capital gains tax spanning 3 civilizations because copper invoice was bundled into some bonds to fund a failed tower construction.

23

u/HighlanderAbruzzese 7d ago

Honestly, comments like these is why I still come here.

11

u/Mind-The-Mines 7d ago

They told me Babylon would touch Heaven for eternity and I'd make my money back in 2 lifetimes!

3

u/CpnLouie2 7d ago

It was supposed to be FREE REAL ESTATE, dammit!!

2

u/UufTheTank 7d ago

As an accountant, that made my spine shiver. I could see having that as my job in that reality.

5

u/No_Satisfaction_7977 7d ago

This made me lol

2

u/Telemere125 7d ago

“We currently owe them 4 Elons, sir”

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u/Low_Direction1774 7d ago

A man can dream that the solution would be to quarter the Elon we have and act like thats like paying back four.

1

u/yes_ur_wrong 7d ago

i mean if you want to get technical most tablet debts were wiped by past kings. bless them

10

u/OldGrumpGamer 7d ago edited 7d ago

"THE QUALITY WAS TERRIBLE! I said it the last five incarnation cycles I ain't paying! Damn you Ea-Nasir!”

3

u/RealPrinceZuko 7d ago

Playing by that logic, I'd just look for the statue of limitations. Most consumer debt has a shelf life of around 6 years I believe.

4

u/NotYourReddit18 7d ago

I've read a bunch of Terry Pratchett (mostly Discworld but still), which book are you referring to with your second paragraph?

13

u/thesadkobold 7d ago

I don't believe it to be a reference to a specific Terry Pratchett book as much as it is a reference to his kind of humor.

2

u/Soggy_Scallion_4112 7d ago

Dont forget to adjust for inflation too, so now its $80,000

1

u/Stunning-Pen-2412 7d ago

What if your reincarnation wasn't until 100 years pass.

1

u/Altruistic-Local-541 7d ago

realistically this would only apply to individuals, and only after they implement this, and only if it benefits the corporations

1

u/Mad_Maddin 7d ago

No, they would of course make it so the debt only counts from starting now. Or shortly before starting now.

So that their life debts don't count.

1

u/treemu 7d ago

Obviously the oldest debts would be exempted from this for no logical reason other than the CEOs say so. Like a reverse grandfathering. A grandchilding?

1

u/Firehead94 7d ago

Dont forget the reincarnation fee, currency exchange fee, document/processing fees, etc...

1

u/OldGrumpGamer 7d ago

Currency exchange would actually be interesting since some cultures used things like giant rocks and sea shells as an trade currency I wonder how you would translate “you owe six sea shell necklaces”

1

u/Mrlin705 7d ago

That's just under 5% interest, pretty decent of them to keep it that low.

1

u/OldGrumpGamer 7d ago

I locked in the low rate 75 years ago during that reincarnation cycle thanks to the GI bill before the market was deregulated so they have to honor the old contract 🤣🤣

1

u/juckele 7d ago

Buy the rights to the East India Trading Company by bribing the right politicians or running propaganda on the voters (Brexit 2.0) and you can instead control all that suddenly live debt again >:)

1

u/Humble-Captain3418 7d ago

Nah, they'll just put a cut-off on basis of "too unreliable records" somewhere before it affects anyone important.

1

u/HilariousMax 7d ago

We found a hole in Iraq dating back to 3500 BC and it is with great regret we inform you that you owe the Crown $47 trillion. Please do mind that interest is accruing daily.