Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

"What do they do if you can't pay Dr and hospital bills? Just refuse to treat you?"

You always pay...they know where to find you..

"I always planed to move right out into the bush but now see that we are going to be tethered to areas with good health care. Unfortunately property in these areas will cost more so we need more $$ to buy.... LoomingCactus I know how you feel."

Eh yah sorta...see the thing is even if i work two jobs i'll NEVER be able to afford even two acres with a shack on it...like even if i worked for 50 years i'd still not be able to have the money...by the time uncle sam,inflation,cost of living take their part there is nothing left...Hell i don't even buy food anymore i just jack what i can from work to survive :/
And it's not even bad yet :/
All i'm saying is it neigh impossible to get a shack with a pond and some lettuce and tend to my garden growing my own food instead of slaving away 16 hours+ a day for the privilege of having a roof and some electricity :/ I'm one bump away from being a third world country! plus i waste all this effort at a job that sees us all as numbers. cut 4 of them? sure we'll make $5 more this year!! The whole system is buggerd and the only way to escape it is to get a tiny bit of land and build a self sustaining dwelling on it..which is bloody impossible for the average man..I only personally know two people who could ever dream of getting there but they have no plans to and think i'm mad. The only people who have a prayer of breaking free of/bucking the system LOVE the system and do their part to see it eats more souls :/

*grumble*

at least you have it in your sights though go and grab some of that delicious green earth and build something nifty on it for me ya? <3

*edit*
had to try and sound less grumpy for a bit encouraging cactus ftw? ;D

Yes, pretty much. My wife needed surgery and unlike many of you we can not afford to eat and have medical insurance so we were screwed. The Dr bill can be reduced 30% if you pay cash up font. The hospital was willing to take $4000 vs $18,000 for their part if we paid cash before the surgery. Without insurance or prepayment they basically said if you die thats your problem. The ER would not admit or treat without a doctor saying it was required. The doctors said it would be immoral to admit you and do surgery when you cant pay for it. (whos morals?) Any way the ER would only say your not dead, go see a doctor; then send a $500 bill for siting in a room for an hour alone and seeing the dr for 10 min, over and over again. In the end we came out paying less that if we had of had insurance all the time.


That really is the core of the issue is it not? My wife has had a hard time accepting that insurance is not an option anymore. I think most people prefer security over freedom. Even when that security is really only an illusion. As long as they can stick their heads in the sand its all ok.

Here are some interesting quotes:


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Being people who have already broken free - I do think it is embracing uncertainity. As much as it has become popular to think of business owners as evil people, often they are courageous people because they are willing to live without a safety net.

I know of many fellow business owners without insurance who started their businesses with almost nothing but a hope and a determination to somehow succeed. Not all of them did, but rarely did any of them regret it. Being particulary hardheaded, many of them after recovering, tried again.

Most people keep themselves chained by fear. I figure I am going to die someday, no matter what I do. I would prefer to die earlier, having lived, than be a zombie.

So, in my opinion, freedom is about having nothing left to lose... you realize that you will lose everything, including your life, someday. Might as well make something of your life until then.

To me, this is not morbid, but incredibly freeing.

"Chained by fear"

Well, in a word, yes. But not fear of my death so much as
- leaving my children un-cared for
- living as an invalid
- being a burden on my family
- having to watch my child suffer

There are probably another dozen or two items on that list, but those are some of the biggies.

Yes - that is true - but also realize, all sense of control is but an illusion. Sometimes it helps to really look at the odds of something happening. For example, for me to die while riding a bike, on average, I would have to ride for 300,000 years! Amazing, eh?

Lots of people fear things they should not. For example, did you know very few people really go to a nursing home? You are more likely to go there if you are not active as well.

You have to come to grips with your fears - and determine which are irrational - and generally created by a media that loves to scare us to death. And Insurance companies who wish to convince you that you must have them to survive.

Just my thoughts on it - for what it is worth.

I like you outlook CRTreeDude!

I am in the process of a paradigm shift in thinking and understanding.

That is why it is so hard - you have to change you.

The majority of foreigners who move here don't make it I have read. The reason is that they brought themselves. As an example, to live in the tropics, you have to accept somethings are going to be drastically different. Some you will like, some you won't. But, if you try to reproduce all you had back in a First World nation - it is very expensive, and generally not possible.

But if you can change your mind - it can be very very cool.

Yes, I have looked back over my life and see that the happiest times were camping with nothing but a pot, hammock, tarp, bed roll, and pillow. Even so when I got married. We camped out while be build the house. I have noticed that the more I own, the more it owns me and takes me out of control if I wish to keep the stuff!

Everything about the "american" lifestyle is in fact VERY expensive and hard to maintain! Yet many things like air conditioning which people feel they can not live without is really not necessary. You can, for example replace it with cool tubes in the ground and still live in comfort saving not only the cost in equipment and labor, but the HUGE amounts of energy pumped into them over a life time.

What's a cool tube?

Tamo a cool tube or earth tube, is a large diameter tube that passes thru the earth and starts from a cool place and ends up in your house...
try this link...
http://www.thenaturalhome.com/earthtube.htm

Here in South Africa we have very few homes with any form of heating or cooling. In Knysna, where I live, we probably have a low of zero deg C and extreme highs of 40 deg C. When it's hot we take off (most of our) clothes and when it's cold we put on more clothes. Personally I don't understand this obsession with having the same temperature all year round, although I suppose that's pretty rich coming from someone living in a temperate climate like I do.

I agree with the mindset change. I really believe that we need to assess our lives and the way we live. What do we really need and what is the society that we living in, conning us into believe that we need? My heart goes out to people who seem trapped by circumstances. I have everything I need (very little in fact) or will ever want, but top of the list is health, family and doing what I am passionate about.

One of the first things you have to get used to in the tropics is the idea of sweating. Honestly, the temperature where we live is pretty good - between 25 to 30 all year - but if you grew up in the North, you are used to never sweating.

In the morning an evening it is just about perfect - the middle of the day, a tad bit warm. You have it a lot harder than us for sure.

people look at us strangely when we tell them we don't have air-conditioners in the house. Build your house properly in the first place and you don't need it.

Very true - we built our home so that the hotter it is outside, the more breeze goes through the home.

The caddo indians that lived here used wood to build a house for summer ans another house for summer. One made tall and to draft and another build tight and smaller for winter. Ingenious!