I take a risk and a "day off" in order to read Henry David Thoreau aloud to you in order to inspire you from the comfort of my garage. I read the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, alone in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again ..read more

What would you do with $100 trillion dollars? This episode begins with a shocking proposal to radically devalue outstanding bonds. I relate a personal cautionary tale about using available credit to pay off credit card bills. We turn to a friend to discuss game theory and global trade. I ponder the surface of personal enrichment, and leave on a high note in a rhapsody of hedge funds ..read more

Today’s episode is preoccupied with the topic of automobile financing and the importance of taking a “step in the right direction” in the financial evolution of the individual. We spare some time to distinguish positive and normative approaches to the science of economics, "what ought to be" versus "what is". An old friend calls in and shares his experiences of credit stress while working as a freelance cartoonist in Los Angeles, the city of angels. Luxury goods are brought into laser focus through the lens of Indian custom car culture ..read more

Today's episode begins with a discussion of personal debt "outside the law" by way of Rocky Balboa, the quintessential American Loan Shark Heavy. We take a long overdue look at Chapter 11, the corporate cousin of Chapter 7. We check out the impact of Yelp on the Food Beverage and Lifestyle ecosystem. A call-in guest discusses independent contract law and some alternatives ..read more

I put on a real toga to illustrate a curious practice in the democracy of ancient Athens: Debt Slavery. A novelist friend gives his two cents on valuation of literary products and labor. We talk around bailout practices on the European continent, analyzing everything from synthetic CDOs to Angela Merkel's "Red/Yellow Button". We come full circle with a brief review of similarities between Puerto Rico and its sister country Greece ..read more

We start this episode with a celebration of my new (used) car! We describe possible scenarios you might expect in the 180 days after discharging chapter seven personal liquidation bankruptcy. A listener calls in and inquires about "quadruple witching" (a quarterly financial brouhaha). We read emails from the public and conclude with some musings on the impact of corporate bankruptcy vis-à-vis unemployment and personal finance ..read more

In this episode we discuss the value of the proverbial long hard look in the mirror in the context of chapter seven bankruptcy. We explain how to take advantage of George W Bush's Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, with a high-level overview of the algorithms that underlie the "big 3" credit reporting agencies ..read more

In this episode our host discusses the concept of financial leverage, defines the role of the US Trustee in chapter seven bankruptcy proceedings, and waxes rhapsodical about the classic board game "Monopoly ..read more

Every bankruptcy has a silver lining! Join me on my commute as I drive distracted while weaving together bad advice, awkward interviews, deep digressions, traffic reports, and classical music ..read more

I take a risk and a "day off" in order to read Henry David Thoreau aloud to you in order to inspire you from the comfort of my garage. I read the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, alone in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again ..read more