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Old 02-25-2016, 02:25 PM   #125
Cin
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So apparently we do have debtor's prison. Even in cases of bills for medical emergencies, like Mr. Iverson who died while in jail for an ambulance bill. Not that I think prison is the place for people who owe money period, except maybe Wall Street and banks too big to fail who owe tons of money and should be jailed for cowboy moves and questionable tactics and of course just outright stealing the Public's money using complicated tricks and sleights of hand.

I just think it's particularly despicable when jail is inflicted on those who owe money for hospital bills. One of the ways it has been made legal for you to get jail time for owing money, aka debtor's prison, is if a judge decides the nonpayment is willful. This is extremely arbitrary as it is left to the judge's discretion. A judge can decide it because of the way you are dressed, or they can just consider all nonpayment willful unless you can show that you have exhausted all sources of possible income, such as quitting smoking, asking family and friends for loans, returning used soda cans and bottles and whatever hairbrained idea the particular judge you draw thinks is fair. It is so arbitrary it is ridiculous.

Big banks willfully refuse to pay their debts and then they cause there own demise. They take trillions of dollars from the government, which means, technically, from us and still they continue to put us all in jeopardy by refusing to stop taking dangerous chances with the economy and with our money. The government is not a separate entity; it is owned, run and paid for by the people so they are hurting us and we have no recourse. But they have so much recourse that banks can have us jailed for losing our jobs and not being able to pay them. Corporations avoid their responsibilities as citizens by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes and not paying importing for all the products they make overseas and declare as American made. Are they not willfully refusing to pay?

This debtor's prison is really scary since it can easily with just a little bit of misfortune, make criminals of us all...well, I guess technically, not all of us, just 90% of us.
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