To Get Out of Debt Make New Friends

We make new friends and let old relationships die at many stages in life. At every new school for instance you make new friends and realize who in your life when no longer convenient you miss about as much as that random Mountain Dew flavor you loved one summer but now can’t remember. It’s natural.

The Problem with Debtor’s Prison is that it’s solitary. You are largely isolated from other inmates. What’s worse, you have unlimited access to your family and former close friends and you get a front row seat as their respect for you dies. What you need is new friends.
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Ahhhhhh March! The depressing Winter is almost over.  Here at Debtor’s Prison there is a lot going on after our Occupy Movement Hiatus.

First, for you writers out there check out

www.firstbookdeal.blogspot.com

for great advice on getting a traditional book deal.  Also, if you already have a manuscript and are looking more seriously at getting published visit their professional site at

www.firstbookdeal.com

Next, remember to check out media for short stories and animated shorts as well as political for thoughts on what is going on in the country.

Also more advice about how to get out of, not merely avoid, student debt.

Happy Almost Spring!

We do two things here at Debtor’s Prison, warn folks about student debt and try and provide some distraction, comic relief. It may come as a shock that we also try and counsel people about getting OUT of the huge messes they find themselves in. While we are not going to delve into any of these steps in detail in this post you have options:
-Live rent free
-Eat free
-Maintain a cash-only existence
-Renegotiate private loans
-Apply for Federal Loan forgiveness
-Pay student debt with dischargeable debt
-Ask for assistance
- Sell Whatever you can find on the Internet
- Start a business that requires little capital that relies heavily on technology
- Do what orphans do

Here are some things that don’t work

-Lawsuits
-More education, additional degrees
-Not taking jobs that don’t require your highest degree
-Putting the loan on direct pay and forgetting about them
-Paying what you can when you can
-Fraud or other crimes

There is one thing you MUST do.  You must make and adhere to a plan whether its as simple as a strict budget or as drastic as going off the grid. Think of yourself as a soldier returning home from war only to find the life he knew is gone and the real battle is forging a new one.

So short stories didn’t quite take off like we were hoping before the whole “Occupy” thing, but we’re reviving it! Here is another fiction work from another young author, Dr. Luigi.

Ferhad Ammad was at his own wedding reception in the coat room with his pants still around his ankles.  If he took two steps to the left he would be able to see his virginal bride still on the dance floor doing a mix of the electric slide and a similar dance from the Old Country.  Beside him stood his mistress, Marissa Hilton, adjusting her dress and trying to erase the obvious signs of what just took place.

“I hope you can still perform tonight,” said Hilton.  “Of course, if she really is a virgin she won’t know the difference or she’ll blame herself.”

Ammad couldn’t believe what he had done.  He hadn’t been married for five hours and it had been less than 24 since he’d last been with Hilton.  He almost didn’t notice when Hilton handed him something which he hastily stuffed into his pocket.  Ammad proceeded to get very drunk that night and passed out immediately upon being alone with his bride, Lana Yousef.  So nervous was he about his deceit that he did not consummate his marriage until the last night of his honeymoon and by then his wife had a very noticeable complex about her desirability.

“I found this in your pocket when I was returning your tuxedo,” said Yousef.  “What is this?”

Ammad immediately recognized it as the piece of paper Hilton had given him.  It read:

I will require a monthly allowance of $2,500 plus all expenses related to visitation.  You will make yourself available on four dates of the year of my choosing with at least two week’s notice.  You will reserve a holiday of my choosing.  Reasonable accommodations can be made for your schedule at the hospital.  A first time fee of $5,000 will be charged for failure to meet any of the above and a $10,000 fee after that. Interest is compiled monthly at 11%.

MH

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Now that I’ve gotten the hang of being an “Occupier” it is time to get back to the business of giving advice to people who are heavily burdened by student debt and are under or completely unemployed. There are a couple of things I’ve learned recently that I’ve liked to share 1) make sure you’re not an EOA and 2) figure what happened to you and why the social safety net missed you.

An EOA is an “Equal Outcome Advocate.”  You went to a better school, got a fancier degree and have more debt than your buddy from junior high so he should work for you not the other way around right? I mean why should HE be driving the new Camaro (convertible, sunset orange, nice) while you are still rolling in your mom’s 1990 Green Corolla? Yeah, don’t be that guy.  I mean you can, but don’t publicly be that guy because it detracts from the rest of the movement.  You sir, have simply experienced bad luck, while your friend has experienced good luck.  Statistics tell us that if you continue to work hard that gap will shrink or even turn around in your favor.

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Greetings all.  For those of you who follow this blog you know we’ve been quiet for awhile.  For the two most prolific writers, myself and Alpha Man, it’s because we’ve been occupying (or toying with the idea).  For the rest of us life happened.  Also at some point things get repetitive. Triforce lies, cheats and seduces sluts.  Samus has a cubicle job.  Icarus is depressed. Simon’s Girlfriend finally got swallowed up by the practice of medicine.

I for one am trying to make the transition to writer with the help of Professional Query Literary Services

www.firstbookdeal.blogspot.com.

And I need your help.  Any suggestions on how to turn this hodgepodge of posts into some kind of actual book? Trying to become a writer yourself? Help me out.

Also don’t forget to follow me on twitter. PQLS is on there too.  Check my followers.

It takes a lot to get one of us to write these days.  Alpha Man promised me a simple explanation of the crux of the Occupy Movement’s issues and he has yet to deliver.  Me, I am content for the time being just to be part of something.  Looking for an answer beats looking for a job. Probably because unlike a job, I know the truth exists.

However I had to tell you guys about this: M.I.T. is providing free, online education that now comes with a certified credential that exhibits mastery of the material. I am including the link below

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2011/12/21/m-i-t-game-changer-free-online-education-for-all/

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Hi folks! We here at Debtor’s Prison are pleased to introduce Rebecca Smith who has been kind enough to write a guest column.  We are impressed with Rebecca’s work and hope she will write for us again.

REBECCA SMITH

The latest chapter of a painful story that began years ago was the debt fight that continued in the capital of the nation and the ensuing credit downgrade by the Standard & Poor’s.  In the last decade, the banks, consumers and the homeowners became bloated with too much leverage or borrowed a huge amount of money and this resulted in a drastic shrinkage of credit throughout the entire economy, a particular phenomenon that is financially known as ‘deleveraging’. Apart from the big picture, the consumers too were worried about the ways in which they can seek debt relief so as to stay out of the debt cycle.

The present situation of the US is nothing new and the government has been grappling with such issues and has also been throwing billions to dollars to provide a quick cure from such problems. Even after continuous meetings and steps taken to assess and improve the current state of the US economy, there has been no positive result that is noticeable. Though the labor market reports were slightly positive in the month of July and August, 2011, yet there has been no such noticeable increase in the growth of jobs within the market that could alleviate the spurring unemployment level. Gut-wrenching market plunges, accompanied by multiple negative aspects of the economy show that the economy is losing steam. Despite all such nerve-wracking events within the US economy, very few expect the policymakers to reveal some new stimulus plans to rejuvenate the lost shine of the nation.

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I spent the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in ages with the Occupiers.  People were very generous with food and I even had a few friends stop by.  Best of all there was no judgment and that suffocating feeling of failure that permeates your being as you feel all eyes around the table judging you each time you dip your eyes to the delicious meal before which suddenly you have no appetite for, even though you fasted for days in preparation.

I know posts have been light, virtually non-existent, but I think its important to be a part of what is actually happening in the streets all across the country.  As far as the blog goes, I am keeping the domain and PROMISE to check in more often to approve comments.  I am also opening this space to guest writers. Also remember, there are hundreds of posts here, and each one is part of the story of why we’re all out here. I’ve reviewed some old entries and 95% are just as relevant now as whenever they were written over the last two years.

So read the Ghost of Entries Past if you want to understand, or if you want assurance that you’re not alone.

…And I have been trying to resist the urge to write about it.  Part of it is because everyone with ten minutes worth of charge on their I-Phone here is blogging about it, and part of it is because of embarrassingly low page hits…I suppose together that would constitute most of it.  But there is another reason too.  I want to “experience” something.

I spent most of my life through school with distance, time, paper and a host of other obstacles between me and experiencing the reality where I spent my life.  Then I experienced something-losing my job and being unable to pay my student loans which in all honesty was hard enough even with a six-figure salary.  After that experience I spent the rest of my life up until now trying to write about that experience, particularly on this blog.  Whereas before I was reaching out to an intriguing reality that would always be behind a veil of secrets, now I am holding on to a painful reality kept fresh by picking scabs…all the while I miss the world around me.

Well no more.  Or at least not for awhile.  You can’t live in the moment and capture it for posterity at the same time.  Besides, posterity is always colored by ultimate outcome.  Right now I have no idea what that will be.  Or when I will start writing again more regularly.