"Biblical prophets instituted a similar custom, the Jubilee, whereby after seven years all debts were similarly cancelled.... As economist Michael Hudson has pointed out, it seems one of the misfortunes of world history that the institution of lending money at interest disseminated out of Mesopotamia without, for the most part, being accompanied by its original checks and balances."

Seven years of slavery for you, your spouse, and your children seems like a fairly high ceiling for punishments. Are the author and Michael Hudson implying that the maximum punishment today -- bankruptcy -- is even more severe?