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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Can’t get my icon to work, sorry.  Also it doesn’t rhyme.

Is it just me or is it ironic that a post about a man whose so desperate for attention that he self-immolates himself is lost on one of the few blogs that post regularly about suicide? Yeah it’s me, sorry no prose.

It is also ironic/tragic that this was not the only option for a suicide post I had over the past 18 or so days but chose this because I didn’t want to divulge personal details about an acquaintance even with pseudonym protection.  But like Benito sitting on it may have caused me to reconsider.  Why? Because victims of suicide, like victims of discrimination or homophobia all suffer when a member of the group does something that reflects poorly on the rest of us.  I am not saying that’s what Thomas Ball did, I can’t judge since I didn’t know him, but from what I gleaned it’s definitely a possibility.

When I first read about this I was angry.  My gut reaction was that this highly publicized event took away from the personal hurt my acquaintance was going through had similar struggles to mine.  I realize now that those thoughts were unworthy BUT there is a grain of truth to them.

We’re all familiar with the Buddhist monks who self-immolated to protest the Vietnam War.  These grand gestures drew our attention to senseless killing half a world away that was the product of complicated alliances and ideologies that made the folks on the ground least responsible for what was occurring.  And next to that we have a father in family court who owes a couple grand he really can’t afford to pay and might go to prison because of it (debtors’ prison! Get it?) Now personally, I think this guy’s act takes away from what the Buddhist Monks did.  I also don’t think he considered the excruciating pain caused by your own flesh burning.  If there is a club where people who committed suicide get to hang out in the Afterlife I am sure they make this guy buy drinks.
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I came across the following comment reading an online article today:

Plot Synopsis: Sarah Palin’s Alaska: Episode 2 – Todd Strikes Back

When we last left our boy Toddy, the evil liberal writer next door had poked his head over the Great Freedom & Liberty Fence and caught old Toddy porking his favorite old pet goat (again) like a piston engine out back behind the snow machine shed. The old Granny Griz was none too happy about that you betcha. Toddy rallied the Greater Alaskan Frozen Tea Bag Patrol to help him build an Even Greater Freedom & Liberty & Patriot Fence so he could really git’er done Toddy style. Toddy told the Patriotic Patrollers that if they built our boy a bigger Even Greater Freedom & Liberty & Patriot Fence that he’d let them have a turn with his old goat… and after that they could have a shot at the four-legged one too….

I posted this mostly because it’s funny as hell, but there is a deeper point too that must be discussed.

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We are definitely going to address this topic again and in more detail but I wanted to get this idea out before the entire legal/student debt related blogosphere is completely subsumed in posts about how hard it is to find a date.  Please people, just go to matchmaker.com or whatever.  Anyway, unserviceable student debt is tantamount to the inability to add to or maintain networth/wealth.  The inability to maintain wealth is essentially a reduction in one’s socio-economic class.  The reduction of one’s socio-economic class is the antithesis of the American Dream and really if one thinks about it what it means to be an American.

Once again I will come back to this when it has had more time to simmer but Benito insisted that we have a post of the week for the short post labor day week and it was either this, an Erin Samus post about dating or another article about Benito’s “Mama’s Boy” business.  Please, someone find that kid a job. 

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It’s summer. Posts are sporadic. Just because we don’t have jobs or lives doesn’t mean we can’t go outside. Going outside is free and trust me you can do it alone.  But you know what the best part of summer is? Occasionally you have a revelation. Here’s mine. Just Don’t Graduate.

The number one indicator of future success isn’t where you go to school or your grades. It’s not even now much dough your mommy and daddy have it is the year you graduate from school and how the economy is doing then. We tend to think of this as something we can’t control like our age. Not so.  Read on to get the particulars of my brilliant Van Wilder-esque plan

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Sigh.  I wish Alpha Man had gone to law school or had at least agreed to write this, but he said it was MY responsibility and to tap into my “righteous anger.” Well kids, here it is.

The New York Times reports that law schools are automatically raising grades on PAST EXAMS for CURRENT LAW STUDENTS and PAYING LAW FIRMS to accept their students.  The first question that comes to mind is, why not help out recent alumni who have been UNEMPLOYED FOR 6 to 24  MONTHS particularly since their grades lack the NATURAL GRADE INFLATION already present on the transcripts of more recent classes?  Well, once you no longer affect the employment statistics of these hallowed halls of learning, nobody cares whether you live or die. 

First let me post the link and then I will dissect what it means for us JD debtors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22law.html

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*clap* *clap* *clap*

You really have to give it up for KF Li. I mean he’s not even in law school yet and he’s doling out billing advice oh yeah, and calling me a bitch, saying I am scared of Benito just because my last what, two posts have a slightly different flavor? Hard to believe it was just a few months ago when I relegated him to wearing a dunce cap for botching a post so badly.

Here’s the best part: KF Li has unwittingly given me 1) the credit for the tips and 2) a way to deny culpability should my own identity ever be uncovered. He also fell for the oldest trick in the book pulled by high powered attorneys: buy a law student drinks for a week, and he will buy you drinks for a year.

Read on to hear why else KF Li is already too big for his damn britches…

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Whoever tells you not to go to law school, don’t listen to them.  I’m not even there yet and already I am having a blast.  Spent a few weeks in NAPA learning about wine so I have something to talk about with the kids that matter – actually got an uncle to pay for it who was, get this, glad I was finally applying myself.  Awesome.  That freed up some cash to wine and dine Mike Triforce, who I suspect is strapped for cash for some reason.  The following are some of his rules for padding hours.  We are learning from a (former?) Master here fellas.  I question him because if you follow this blog you know he hasn’t been the same since his hiatus.  He blames Benito, but when has Triforce ever cared about what Benito thought before?  He knows Benito RARELY doesn’t approve an article…

But anyway.  Go to law school.  It is the only profession where you have a statistically measurable chance of landing a job that pays 160k or more for doing the following.  Secrets are after the fold people.

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So this is late and I apologize.  I am trying something different here.  Mike Triforce is still my hero, but I am going to stray a little bit and try and actually answer Benito’s question, which was simply…why?  Alpha Man clarified.  “Why, with everything you’ve been exposed to as part of this blog, would you borrow more money and go to law school, particularly a third tier law school?”  The Mike Triforce answer is easy.  I am going to make it, despite how many people have failed, and I want the BMW driving, bottles and models, JD-Just DOllaZ lifestyle.  Please don’t get me wrong I do.  But if I am really honest that’s not it, that’s not even 50% of it.  The reason I applied to law school and plan on attending is because of the way it makes me feel.

Please read on as I try to explain what I am experiencing, and how I believe that translates into the “average” undergrad or young person.

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As some of you well know Elie Mystal is my favorite blogger.  He blogs over at www.abovethelaw.com.  He wrote an amazing piece that I think gets at the heart of everything I stand for on this blog.  His thanks? Scores of racist comments.  I am posting the specific link here

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/04/harvard-blsa-racism-banality-evil/#comments

I am also going to repost the entire thing word for word because I think it’s that important.  The first paragraph will appear before the break.  PLEASE read the whole thing.  AT LAST SOMEBODY GETS IT.

Thank you Elie.  Seriously, it means the world.

Elie here: just wanted to make sure you all know what’s coming.

Few things embarrass me like the Harvard Black Law Students Association. It could be the most credible foil to systemic racism against black law students. It has instead become a convenient tool to be used by those who wish to ignore the racial tensions in our system of legal education.

Don’t believe me? Earlier this week, we learned that a sole white kid called blacks genetically dumber than whites, and Harvard BLSA backed down — stepped and fetched, if you will — in the face of one solitary white person. It’s not the first time (we’ll get to the tragically impotent reaction to Kiwi Camara later). But at a point when the entire law school world would have at least considered what Harvard BLSA had to say, the organization sought to cover their own ass in the media, instead of standing up on the behalf of maligned black law students everywhere.

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