http://rollingjubilee.org/
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
I'm somewhat suspicious about it.
A lot of debt at that point has been sold and resold numerous times, to the point that a collection agency will be unable to collect from a sufficiently savvy debtor anyway. (By the time you get into third and fourth generation debt sales, it's not worth the cost of having the seller transmit the necessary documentation to push a claim, and they mostly rely on yelling loudly.) Education about the numerous laws restricting debt collections would probably be money better spent, but then I can see how that'd be less effective than one might hope, and would probably never actually affect the people who need it most.
There's also something unsavory about how they're still feeding the beast, even if it's pennies on the dollar. But I'm sure the hippies thought of that.
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
I think it's cool, but debt is the symptom of a consumerist culture. They can buy up all the debt they want, but if people don't change their behavior they'll be back in debt. I heard somewhere that most (75% I feel like is what I remember) of big lotto winners have the money gone and nothing to show for it in 2 years.
Then again, it seems like the main kind of debt they are focusing on at first is medical debt, which doesn't exactly seem like a consumerist problem.
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"You can't keep throwing people at your problems, dear." - Emma Frost to Colossus
~Jacehan~
Sure, but I imagine if someone is debt free there's a much better chance they can afford health insurance and avoid huge medical debts.
I don't think that's really true. Health insurance is really expensive and doesn't cover a lot of things. And often low-income workers work at jobs that don't provide it, which makes it even more expensive. Someone could have a low paying job and still live within their means, debt-free. I did for 3 years (except for my student loans). But I didn't have health insurance that whole time, and wouldn't've been able to afford it if something happened.
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
Well that's why I said "better chance" and not "guarantee".
So if you had to make one recommendation to people with crushing medical debt, what would it be? Is it some kind of Repo Men scenario?
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
Who, me? If you have crushing medical debt, uh, do your best, I really don't know. Prevention is a lot more do-able.
I'm not saying these Rolling Jubilee guys aren't doing a nice thing.
Oh it came to me: file bankruptcy.
Hence the statistic that 62% of bankruptcies come from medical debt.
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
I feel distinctly that I am the bad guy in this topic.
*Begins lighting torches and distributing pitch forks*
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I mean, you're right that there're already mechanisms in society to help people with crippling debt. It's just that the idea that medical debt is attributable to "bad habits" is a little... well, a little Ron Paul.
Here's a great numbered list talking about that exact thing:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-being-poor/
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
Uh, I didn't say medical debt was attributable to bad habits. I like, agree with you guys about medical debt.
That's why I used the word "chance", right? If you have more money because you're not making debt payments, there's a better *chance* you can afford insurance and not get into crippling medical debt. So conversely, there's also a chance that you still can't even if your habits are great. So I don't know how those specific words got put in my mouth.
Well, I s'pose the word was "behavior," but then again that came up before "medical" came up as a word.
So my bad.
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir