My dad killed himself over money, and I have since concluded that it's not that big of a deal. Debt is an imaginary number. For example, when I walked into the emergency room and they turned me away because I didn't have insurance, then sent me $1,000 bill for the evaluation, all I could do was laugh. I don't have $1,000 and I don't feel bad for not paying when it's obviously an arbitrary debt for no good reason at all.

I am sorry to hear about your dad. Money can be terrifying, and I realize that your main point is not to make money the center point of life. Indeed. But money is a part of life, and a huge one, no matter how you slice it.


I think if you call the Hospital and are patient enough to climb the management ladder you could get that bill dismissed, or significantly reduced. I used to work at a costumer service call center, and my roomate currently does. You would be surprised how much a bill decreases if you are polite, patient, and use the phrase "I need to speak to your supervisor."


The costumer service ladder is also suggested by Chris J. Richards, in his book "Debt Control."

Student loans with MONTHLY interest of $100+ dollars when I was making $50 payments. What can I do but laugh?

I am sincerely impressed that you are paying for your student loans, most people don't do this consistently. You might be surprised how quickly you could nip those student loans in the bud if you take my advice on some of the other factors.

Car insurance that's $100 a month for a car that isn't even worth $500?

Are you paying for more than liability, if so you are paying too much if your car is $500. Also if you are using your car for commutes under 15 miles for the most part, I would consider selling the car, and getting a Moped. A brand new Moped costs about $1000, *a lot cheaper if you buy used. The insurance for a Moped is about $10 a year. If you are stuck with the car, and you are only paying liability and your bill is over $100, I can only ask how many wrecks have you been in, or is your husband the cause? Either way, call other insurance companies, and complain, and see if you can't get a smaller quote.

A $500 credit card that balloons into over $3,000 in monthly over-limit fees and late fees, and an interest rate that jumps to 27% if you're a day late?

I've been reading books by CPAs and economists like crazy, and it seems most of them agree that anything over 1 credit card is too many. So take all your credit cards but one, cut them up, throw them away. If you want to privately email me about it I can give you Chris J. Richard's strategies for reducing that bill, in the hopes of them actually collecting. A funny thing that credit card companies don't want you to know is that after a year from purchase, they only have a 25% chance of collecting the debt. Meaning that if you have bills from a year ago or longer to a credit card, you can multiply that bill by .25, and negotiate for the bill to be reduced to something about that quanitity by climbing the costumer service ladder. The book I'm citing is called "Debt Control" its not my favorite I've read, that would actually be Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace," but it does have some good tricks that resonate with my experience as a costumer service representative.

ALL of it is built into a system meant to keep good hard-working people like you and me forever running on a wheel like a hampster. Work, consume, die and the people higher up on the chain get rich and live without those same rules most of us stress over. Do you think they're garnishing Bush's check for unpaid hospital bills?

I am skeptical about the idea of a mass conspiracy. According to the book "Credit Card Nation" by Robert D. Manning, the big companies, and governments have the same bad spending habits as the rest of us, and they probably think its a conspiracy too. The truth is that most of us don't get the basic training we need, and that includes CEOs. Enron anyone?


Please understand, money is a game and there is no way you can win. You can provide for your family without working yourself to death or worrying needlessly. If you are generous with your love and support for the universe and humanity, then I promise you that it comes back to you in other ways. Do your business fairly and never rip off others and live as free as you can from the parts of the game where you know you will not be treated fairly. Spending locally has great rewards. Barter. And be sincerely grateful for every thing in your life. That is how you rise above the hate. You can't hate something that isn't real. Nor can you depend on it to bring you security.

As someone who is commited to skepticism I rebut that whether or not I can provide for my family or win at the game of money is an empirical question. I say wait and see. But I do know that people call into Dave Ramsey's radio show every day having climbed out of debt using his techniques. And I don't think Ramsey is the be all end all, because he has his head in the sand about much of modern science because he is a creationist.

I can read his stuff, and apply what I know about behaviorism and psychology to make even better strategies that work with the programming we are all born with.

I plan to be out of debt, which I have $40,000 in student loans and a little over $2000 in other delinquent bils, in 10 years.

In a private email I told you about my neuroscience degree, and I accept your congradulations. But I think you misunderstood, I am not going straight for my Ph.D., I may never get one (though in 5 years I am planning on going back). I will not be a medical doctor ever!

I am probably going to teach high school science.

I plan on getting completely out of debt while teaching high school science. I will do this using simple techniques that have worked for so many others in the past.

This means that after I pay my rent (or mortgage) and utilitites and groceries, everything I make is disposable income.

I will be in this position in 10 years, don't take my word for it, wait and see.


For more info. on the facts behind our entrapping money system you can look for u tube videos on it, like by Ron Paul and people against the New World Order e

If Ron Paul thinks that debt craft is bad, then why does he favor legislation that completely takes away all regulations against corporations.

Thats right, read his views on business law carefully. Ron Paul thinks government should stay out of business, period. That means that if credit cards want to charge 100% interest, no one will stop them. Right now the government stops them.

If a mining company wants to abandon all safety regulations in order to maximize profits, Ron Paul thinks they should be able too.

We have had a world with no regulations for business in the United States. It was the late 1800s, famous for child labor, chaining employees to assembly lines, killing employees when they demanded rights, and robber barons.

If this world comes, I will be fine I think, because I have already climbed my way out of ever needing a manufacturing job. But anyone who doesn't have a specialized asset, like say a neurosience degree, or a highly specialized trade, is in for a fun ride.

America was awash in the blood and tears of the poor before we had laws that made business respect human life, which it is inclined not to do, and Ron Paul wants business to not have any laws restricting its impulse.

How anyone thinks this favors the little guys is beyond me.

Oh, and if your an atheist, you should know that Ron Paul thinks the teaching of creationism in school is "not an important issue."

Ron Paul has a lot more in common with Pat Robertson than anyone wants to know.

I realize that he does occasionally do cool things, like pass marijuana de-criminalization acts, but for the most part his whole schtick is about business ruling the world. When you get rid of government, business is only to happy to take its place.