48 Year-Old Blogger Has Gone 9 Years Without Spending Money

That this man's story is regardied as extraordibary, is a statement about many people who have not tried (or been forced to) walk their talk.

There are plenty of people disengaged, more or less, with the corporatist distrubution of goods, and as more join us (the corporatists stock-in-trade) we will not need to do anything other than Starve the Beast.

Keep what small money you have circulating at home and out of the pockets of large corps. and things will change awful fast.

What they call a "depression" is a strike among the capital markets to pay us enough.

It can also work the other way, through disengagement with the national markets—think Braed Riots 1770's Boston.

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The guy dumpster dives.. and lives on someone's land (granted in a cave, but underground houses were all the rage once).. and uses the publicly funded library.

People suffering with mental illness and/or drug addictions live Suelo's "lifestyle" everyday and no one is suggesting that we look to those poor unfortunates for inspiration to cut back on our consumption.

Sorry.. if the guy really wants to be "money free" he should be doing something for others, like bartering, for his living, not picking through the garbage left over from other people's spending.

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I'm surprised the Fed hasn't made this illegal...

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While I understand the sentiment behind "doing everything yourself," the specialization and division of tasks that occurs in our society are not the product of capitalism. Every civilization since the Sumerians has practiced this, and in way, it is the bedrock of civilization. Being able to buy bread at the store or have somebody else build your house is not "consumerist" but a necessary component of our continued existence. Without the division of labor in society and the development of hyper-specialized roles for individuals there would be no literature, or even language, because those things require individuals with the time and reason to develop those things, nor would there be schools, hospitals, indoor plumbing, or electricity. Daniel Suelo is a novelty. His lifestyle may work for him, but on a fundamental level, it is in opposition to the structures of civilization that allow us all to be here now. I think we need to remember that consumer culture is something relatively new, and being opposed to it shouldn't mean being opposed to all civilization. Otherwise, one is essentially handing the argument to the other side.

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...for at least a couple hundred thousand years.

Of course, they were in constant danger of being eaten by T-rex...you know, before the great flood came and knocked off all the reptiles that couldn't fit on a large boat...

I only draw the religious parallel to point out that money isn't inherently evil or something to be a'feard of!

:)

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And the rest of us are his hosts. And just like all parasitic relationships, he'd die without the host's support.

Money just facilitates trade. His not using money only indicates one thing- that he'd rather sponge off the rest of us.

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Well, he does use the publicly funded library. And he appears to live in part off other people's waste. I'm afraid he strikes me as no better than rich wingnuts who claim they're "self-made men/women" who never received any help from the evil government as they built their empires thanks to a publicly organized, regulated, and maintained infrastructure.

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could easily live this life couldn't they. Just do some dumpster diving and fish when you get hungry. Well... there wouldn't be any dumpsters then I guess. The fish would be gone too from the other 3000 people in the used-to-be wilderness. Oh and if someone breaks a leg or gets pig-cancer or whatever the disease of the month happens to be that person can just launch himself off a cliff and be done with it.

I'm putting all my shit on ebay right now.

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I bet that's real sanitary, no sewer, is he burying human waste? He's using the public internet paid for by tax paying citizens.
If everybody tried this there would be no one to mooch off of. No scraps to dive for.
They used to call these people hermits or hillbillies. In the city he'd be just another street person.

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I have been wealthy, impoverished, middle-class. The best I have found is middle-class. Not surprisingly, the middle-class entertains the lowest number of mentally ill, as opposed to the wealthy and poor.

By living minimally, I enjoy not paying much in the way of taxes to support a series of governments I have despised for most of my life, including the reigns of Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushs. Clinton was only marginally better and only in small ways. I just think of him as Republican Lite. Kinda like Obama. Fortunately, my tax contribution to our seemingly endless need to start wars, destroy the environment, and generally use up resources, including people, has been extremely small.

So, even if you do not live totally free of money, you can live very low on the hog and contribute little to the war-enslave-exploit-destroy machine.

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I first met the hippies when I was camping with my family (I was 6) and walked over to their campsite and said "you know, my mother would really like to cut your hair!"(!) ...

But when my dad went to work at a new mine, my mother and I stayed with hippies - it was the best time of my childhood.

The original hippies, the draftdodgers, all had the same dream of living close to the land. They were educated, middle class white kids; they played violins, zithers and guitar, they had goats and chickens and spearmint in the garden for tea (and probably a few pot plants in the back 40) and ground their own wheat for bread and they LOVED kids. It was paradise for an 8 yr old.

I still remember haying as a communal affair and the kids rode on the wagon and there was a big potluck picnic at the end ...

The original hippies were also entrepeneurs who went on to establish garlic farms, pottery shops and organic food co-ops and in this way, shaped the community around them, enduring to the present day and giving this area the "culture" for which it is now famous.

The original hippie movement scared and fascinated corporate establishment at the same time. Under massive public pressure the amerikan governent finally pulled out of Vietnam, at the cost of escalating marijuana prohibition and the coopting of hippie image by corporate culture.

No? Today "hippie" connotates either the fresh-faced flower girl who would NEVER smoke pot or, more often, the unwashed freeloader who reeks of weed and patchouli, the ONDCP stereotype lifted from Cheech and Chong, without Sgt Stedenko or any of the other humor (or any humor at all, for that matter).

Given that the ONDCP redeems government-approved plotlines in exchange for advertising minutes mandated for "public service" announcements (i.e. most prime-time network tv is quite literally government propaganda), it should be no surprise that the "rebranding" of the hippie image should be so successful.

It is worthwhile to remember that the hippie movement began well in advance of the Vietnam protests and although it contributed in a major way, it was never synonymous with anti-war protest - that just arose naturally from the hippie ideal.

It is also worthwhile at this point in history, when armed revolution (however dramatic and desirable) may not seem feasible, to remember the original hippie mantra:

"Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out"

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He says that he lives without money, and this may be true as far as direct contact goes, but someone else has to provide the money to create the "waste" he scavenges from the dumpsters. He uses the public library, even though he pays no taxes and does no work to contribute anything to society in return.

Sorry folks, but in my opinion, this guy is a scavenger, maybe even a parasite, on society. Without the rest of us wage slaves casting off stuff for him to take, he'd starve. And if we all started hunting and fishing for our food, we'd wipe out the resources in short order. There are just too many of us for everyone to live like this anymore. Really, now, who'd want to live like this anyway?

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Alternet posts all sorts of articles about the environment and social change, most of which just preach to the choir instead of challenging it. But when a story comes along about somebody who embodies an alternative way of living, it's given only a few measly paragraphs of attention followed by a tirade of snarky comments. Nobody's asking you to give up you money or comforatble lifestyle.
Be progressive, just as long as it's not too far out of your comfort zone or the social conventions you've become accustomed to. You think this guy is a parasite? You are a bunch of vultures. YOU are a bunch of hypocrites.

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Try and Imagine 9 Years Without Sex

Fortunately I decided not to follow my Brothers into The Territorial Army...

And end up with having my balls blown off...

My Wife was really good...

With the first, The Doctor said - No Sex is the best Thing To Bring It On Naturally....

And then when she was in Stitches after the Operation she had to have her varicous vein removed in her leg...

She said, no it will be O.K. so long as we take it gently...

For the first 20 odd years we were together we were never apart for more than 24 hours...

Sure I had to go on courses and travel and stuff for my job...

But I said - I am not going unless I can get home the same day and sleep with my wife...

So they said O.K. - You can Fly

Then - My Wife had to look after her Mum or Dad when either one or the other were in hospital.

I had my kids at home to look after me. I am useless when I am alone. I need people I love around me.

Tony

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I have been offerred money, but I said - no you don't get it.

I have Retired

I am Not a Professional

I Do This Because I Like Doing It

The Work Is It's Own Reward

If The Results - Work For You - Then That is Fine...

No I Do Not Mind If You Become Very Successful and You Yourself Make Money

I Get Paid a Pension - And Its Enough To Live On

I Don't Need Any More

Tony

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Upon reading this article my gut reaction and whatever that implies was to get a warm fuzzy and applaud his protest as a self-less act, however, what he has done is gone from being a Peace Corps volunteer who lives on basically nothing anyway but is in service to humanity to someone who has to devote all his time to survival and fighting a culture that doesn't support this lifestyle. Help me see how he has evolved to evermore selflessness in this act.

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I have lived without owning a car for 18 years and walk or bicycle where ever I need to go. Does that qualify me for mention or noteworthiness? Nope.

I wonder what would happen should Mr. Suelo have to have an emergency appendectomy or gets tetanus from a dumpster or a rattle snake bite. Die in his cave? He'll do what people do in situations like that, seek medical care and plead for mercy. The hospitals or tax payers will then foot the bill to make him better or dispose of his body.

Take a stand against excessive consumerism. Yes.

Going waaaaaay off the grid. I think not. Mr. Suelo is a walking time bomb of contradiction.

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I've just read what I wrote, and I think some people might completely misinterpret it, because I may have put the commas in the wrong place.

I have still got two balls and they still work O.K.

It's Hitler who only had one ball (the other's in the Albert Hall - or so the song was still sung in the playground 15 years later - we had won the war)- and my brother actually - he had one removed - but could still make love to his wife O.K.

Tony

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Read his article on Darwinism. Apparently he's a die-hard Creationist...*sigh*. "History-denial" (as Dawkins put it) is alive and well, even in Hippies.

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So special person!get an aversion to money.Almost no people act in that way.Rip Blu Ray

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Everything people have said about Suelo is true. From my perspective, he's just another guy who leads an interesting lifestyle. I have no desire to emulate him or convert him to anything other than what he is. If I ran into him, we may or may not have something valuable to exchange, and it would apparently not involve "money".

The article certainly stirred some emotions in some people, I guess it would have to be considered good writing for having done that. Think I'll mow the lawn now. Hope that doesn't piss anyone off. I'm sure not mowing it would, eventually. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

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since 1990 socialists are out.
I know some old hippies living near the harbor,;
- they receive the obligatory $ 1000 a month.
- free dental care, health care
- talking to a psycho once a week free of charge.

Now they receive a house and : Chamber training.
how to clean dishes, how to use a vacuumcleaner.

I also know people working from time to time, small business owners living on a minimum.
They are considered as traitors, to have your own business means you want PROFIT.
In Europe you must be green, driving your HUMMER, underpaying your illegal maid and making big money...

So have a job as peanutcounselor and vicepresident of the Organization for protection of overweighted lesbians with a hunback (OLWAHB)

Life as a Repug and talk Democrat.

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I wonder what would happen should Mr. Suelo have to have an emergency appendectomy or gets tetanus from a dumpster or a rattle snake bite. Die in his cave? He'll do what people do in situations like that, seek medical care and plead for mercy. The hospitals or tax payers will then foot the bill to make him better or dispose of his body.Tiffany Jewelry | Tiffany Jewellery

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I didn't use any money for two years, although I did occasionally earn some food - there were no dumpsters where I was living. I sometimes had to deal with the ignorance and jealousy implied by many of the comments above, but most people treated me quite well. This was a deep and valuable learning experience for me, and it didn't cost anybody else anything at all. Most of the commentators on here would be completely unable to survive this experiment, and many of you will find the economic collapse in your immediate future very difficult to survive - I will be just fine.

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It's a good thing that there are individuals working, making money, paying taxes, contributing to the federal and state systems which provide and maintain public park spaces, federal land and wonderful libraries. Food stamps? That's not the only way our tax dollar makes the community a better place. If only it were that simple.

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Obviously, Mr. Suelo is not living the way he does because he thinks everyone else can do the same. Rather, his lifestyle is a result of realizing the absurdity of the 'monetary/consumer cult' lifestyle--and finding a way to mitigate the cognitive dissonance between that reality and his own ethical beliefs. On the other hand, human culture has been on an evolutionary path that was the inevitable result of large-brain survival strategy, which overcame the natural limits of the biome, resulting in over-population and all the associate ills that implies. All is as it must be--including dead-end survival strategies like large-brainedness. Mr. Suelo's lifestyle will have little impact on the trajectory of the 'consumer culture', but it may be a precursor of the skills that remnant populations of humans will need to survive after the inevitable mass die-off of the species.

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He is so intreresting a man i never seen before,i didi looking forward of this lifestyle,but maybe cann"t last 9years.
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