Michael Hudson is a veteran of Wall Street and Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), and Professor of Economics at Peking University. He is President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), and the co-editor of The International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economies (ISCANEE) series (5 volumes), sponsored by the Harvard Peabody Museum. He has consulted with the U.S. and foreign governments on taxation, balance of payments, financial bubbles, land policy and financial reform. He gives speeches, lectures and presentations throughout the world for official and unofficial groups reflecting diverse academic, economic and political constituencies. This book, ...and forgive them their debts, is Volume I of the trilogy, THE TYRANNY OF DEBT.