Living without Money! A man has done so for 11yrs.

He does help others out by house sitting and not taking payment. Not a mooch, if people freely give him things thats their choice. If I give you something and don't expect anything in return then your not mooching. If I ask you to house sit for me and you don't expect or except payments but when winter comes around you allow me to give you some food or a place to sleep by my free will still not making you a mooch. Until he is a burden on the economy he's not a burden at all.

 

So his use of public property to live is?
(illegal)

His use of public bathrooms is?

His use of the public library is?

He writes a blog so people will?

He hunts and eats?

Like I said if your not contributing to society you are taking from it unless your 100% self sufficient. I would respect him if he bought or had land donated to him and became self sufficient through solar or hydro while planting his own food. This guy is a sham.

If he didn't care about what others though and didn't want donations why is he using a blog to spread his word.

I will agree he is less of a burden then most dependent people, but in the end he is dependent thus he is not self sufficient and a consumer.

 

I agree, he's not entirely self sufficient.
Public things are indeed public.

 

Still a bum and an unproductive member of society.

 

x2

 

lol i want to know how he made it from Moab to India with no money. Someone donated some swimmies?

Guy is a bum. Public property is paid for and to be used by the public. I think they should kick him out of the library.

 

But if the other 99.9% of people werent working and paying taxes there wouldnt be public things for him to mooch off of

 

With all of the other things dragging this nation down this guy doesn't count for shit. His cost per year is probably less than a mcdonalds meal. Even back in the day people worked together to make life easier, he's closer to the olden days than anyone here. How many of you have a loan out? Mooching off of others savings. Yall pay the loans back just like he repaid others with favors.

 

I started reading and kept thinking, "I know a Boulderite when I see one." And then... BOOM!

But really...

Meh. Public lands are supported by tax money. He has no taxable income so his tax liability is zero, so technically that is his share. Until pretty recently I actually never made enough money in a year to have to pay taxes and I used libraries, roads, public schools, public lands, and for a short period of time- about 6 months- I was on food stamps. What's that make me? I guess call him a bum if you want, but what's he hurting? He's certainly using far less in the way of public resources than any of us do.

And if you're worried about the $2 he's costing the taxpayers, I'll make sure I donate a couple extra bucks of my tax refund back to public funds next year. Would you guys prefer the wildlife donation or the presidential election fund?

 

I was hoping to see a guy that lived completely off the grid or something...self sustained
not a guy that takes showers in public creeks and eats fried grasshoppers....

 

Ya. I value shampoo, soap, and deodorant. Guess I'll have to keep going to work.

 

him and palmula handerson must be pretty well acquainted...

 

I have loans but I pay for it in the form of interest. It's not mooching. Someone provided a service and I pay for that service.

 

As he is paying people back for services with services. Even trade. My neighbor uses my mower to cut his grass because he doesn't have one, in return he mows my yard. Its a trade. Those that are helping him are doing so voluntarily. With the exception of the public lands and buildings which I don't feel I should have to pay anyway because then I'm supporting the public that doesn't put forth as much as myself. So how could I be bothered by him when there are millions of others that are dragging us down in worse ways then him? I don't need paved roads, a public library, police, fire dept. or many other public places or figures. So before I give him shit about what he is doing I'd rather remove those in office that vote themselves a raise and get free health care on top of very generous salaries for jobs they no longer perform.

 

Interesting story. He certainly gets an 'A' for effort, but his efforts will only go so far. Eventually, he is going to need to see a doctor/dentist, and they don't accept fresh road kill as payment.

 

Also, I would add that if he is getting things in exchange for favors, whether it is a meal for fixing someone's lawn mower or mowing the grass, he is using money. Money is simply a tender device to allow one to trade for goods and services. It doesn't matter if the trade exchange relies on labor.

We are social beings and rely on each other for survivial. Always have and always will. The introduction and creation of a monetary system with paper money or coins simply made the process of trade easier. One did not have to worry about how many cows or chickens it wil take to trade for a horse.

So, the statement that he is not using money is largely irrelevant. If he interacts with and obtains any kinds of goods or services form others, he is using money in absentia. Money is simply a synonym for trade.

e.g. The guy gets a McDonalds hamburger meal for mowing someone's grass. Instead of giving the guy money to buy the meal, the person buys the meal for him. One does not actually have to be in posession of physical money to make use of it. The trade value of the item is all that matters. He is trading his labor for goods. He is making use of money and the monetary trade system. So, he is not living money-free. It is impossible to do so.

It is impossible to survive in any society or culture without money(trade). This goes back to caveman days. Everyone always made use of money(trade) to surivive.

A better statement for how the guy is living is this--he is debt free> But he does have assets-- clothes he has and items he has accumulated that others have discarded. These have a monetary value, even if they were only worth a penny on the market.

 

I think that it would be awesome to do that. My uncle tells me about a friend of his that was on his boat in Vietnam, he was a Navy Chief Engineer or something like that when he got out worked on the diesel motors of the ships, that after they came home and got out the service moved into the mountains of Tennessee and lives off of the land with just 1 power outlet for his VHF, CB's, and radio's in case of an emergency he can get in contact with the outside world.

 

Seems to me he's contributing something of great value to society ... namely he's getting people to examine what's really important.

 

When you build relationship, people begin to share what they have an abundance of, not out of guilt or need, but out of love. For some of us that's money or possessions. For others it's a special skill. For others it's a spiritual gift like the gift of encouragement or hospitality or empathy. This guy obviously has a message that resonates with certain people, and they give in kind. I've actually been practicing a form of this for years in my local community with great results.