The Man Who Sold Shares of Himself

RougeFemme writes "This is a fascinating story about a man who sold shares in himself, primarily to fund his start-up ideas. He ran into the same issues that companies run into when taking on corporate funding — except that in his case, the decisions made by his shareholders bled over into his personal life. This incuded his relationship with his now ex-girlfriend, who became a shareholder activist over the issue of whether or not he should have a vasectomy. The experiment continues." The perils of selling yourself to your friends.

Comments

Re:Slavery?

[LordLimecat]

You're complaining that people borrow huge sums of money voluntarily, interest free for several years, and that there are societal and legal restraints which obligate them to repay it?

"Entitlement mentality", not servitude.

Re:It's a publicity stunt

[Sarten-X]

...bankruptcy law that make it impossible to discharge debt unless you're rich...

Well... good. Debt means you owe somebody, and you're not paying yet. Bankruptcy means you won't ever be able to pay them back. Discharging should be avoided in all cases where there's even a remote chance that someone can pay what they owe.

Of course, the "rich" get special treatment, with a reason. "Rich" people often have others depending heavily on their solvency, moreso than the average person, whose bankruptcy would cost a few bigger companies their credits. The bigger someone's budget, the more likely they are the main source of income for others... and those others' livelihoods must be considered when resolving a bankruptcy. The wealthy individual may escape bankruptcy with a decent amount of net worth still intact, but likely held inaccessibly to avoid screwing over the people who depend on them.

...plus judges finding debtors in contempt of court for not paying and jailing them (aka debtors prisons 2.0)...

"Contempt of court" means there's a court order they're disobeying. That means the person has already gone through bankruptcy, and has worked out a plan to repay their debts, then just didn't do it. In addition to their original debt agreement, and any reorganization agreements during bankruptcy, they've now also failed the court's last attempt to let them work their way out. Terribly sad and all, but how many more agreements do we have to let people break before they get more than a slap on the wrist?

...have me scared.

What scares me is the notion that debt should be easily escapable. I understand that Lady Luck has a cruel sense of humor, and sometimes society really should release someone from their burdens, but the recent tendency has been to treat bankruptcy as a get-out-of-trouble-free card, and debt is a free pass to spend one's younger years partying on someone else's dime.