Is sleep debt real, and if so, how many extra hours should you sleep for every missed hour?
Sleep debt appears to be real, but tends to be highly variable. Lab studies support this concept, but many of them were with rats that sleep longer than humans (humans have shorter sleep periods than most animals). There is controversy among researchers over the validity of results as there is a significant subjective component. This is another example of one’s expectations - if you think there will be consequences for lack of sleep you will focus on your feelings and body, usually then comparing the with sleep and without sleep observations. This increases the chance of a negative outcome.This also is not an hour by hour payback. Give your body a chance to decide how much is needed.
I really need a windfall (money) so I can get out of debt. is it a waste of $1 to buy a lottery ticket. or should I just save the $1.?
Lottery tickets are voluntary tax. If you want to pay voluntary taxes, go for it. You have a better chance of replacing Russell Wilson as quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks than you do of winning big in the lottery. You know why people are in debt? Because they spend money they don't have, and when they do have money, they are stoopid with it instead of using it to pay off the debt.
What does it mean when we say deflation increases the real debt burden or increases the real value of debt and rising real interest rates?
The best way to understand that would be to put it against the opposite phenomenon - inflation. When there's inflation in the economy the value of the same amount money decreases. Ppl spend more for goods now than they did ten years ago. It's easier for you to earn and spend Rs.100 today than it was for your father thirty years ago. So logically if you borrowed a sum of money ten years back, you'll find it easier to pay off now because of inflation because while the economy was inflating at 5-8% your principal loan amount and the original rate of interest didn't change with that. Now imagine the exact opposite. If the economy deflated at that same rate you'd find it harder to pay off that principal amount cos the value of that money is much much higher in today's worth. To put it in perspective, you'd be paying off at today's rates and payments with earnings and expenditures in tune with the 1980s. That's the heavier burden of debt!
Is there more global debt than actual floating money?
Assets = liabilities, ALWAYS. It’s the unbreakable rule of accounting.It is true that there is more debt than money, but not all assets are money.Ex. You get a loan from the bank for $1000, and you have to pay back $1050. Sounds like there are more liabilities than assets, right? Wrong: You have an asset - $1000; the bank has a liability ($1000 in your account). You also have a liability - a $1050 debt; the bank has a matching asset, a promissory note worth $1050. Assets = liabilities. You just need to transfer $50 (there is plenty floating around) to the bank for the risk they took; that’s the bank’s profit, just as if they sold you a $150 bicycle that only cost $100 to build. Were you to default on your loan, the bank would take a $1000 loss (the money was already transferred), and write down their $1050 promissory note, taking your unpaid interest down with it. Everything nets out to zero. M1 returns to where it was before you took out the loan.Government liabilities are a bit different. Governments (with their own currencies) simply spend assets - be they bonds, reserves, or dollars - into the economy, and they hold the liabilities indefinitely, until they decide to tax them away (or not). The private sector holds these government liabilities as debt-free assets. So if the government has $20 trillion in liabilities (bonds, reserves, and cash), we hold $20 trillion in assets. The Fed, which I count as a part of the government, holds assets (mostly govt. bonds) against their liabilities (reserves and cash). Whether or not you want to count this as more debt or not is up to you, but it’s basically double-counting.In any case, to answer your question, there are financial assets equal to all financial debt. It’s not all money, but it is all convertible to money. And the real wealth accumulated via all of this financial debt, of course, remains.
How would you prank an incoming call from a debt collector?
I get calls from debt collectors harrassing me for debts, sometimes they are real, and I will work things out, but plenty of times they are not. They are not mine or I paid the company and the debt collector still feels I owe them. In any case, I want to see how you would prank an incoming call from a debt collector. If they are calling me, then it is not harrassment, because they are literally asking for it. Some of the less creative ideas I have already received are to cuss at 'em ( come on, everyone does that), heavy breathing on the phone, talk like you are retarded (drunk, stoned, sleep deprived, whatever), or pretend you don't speak english. That last one sounded funnier when you consider switching foreign languages at random, even if you don't know what you are saying "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto". Think of whatever you can, and let me know. I think if ppl come up with a bunch of things that take up their time, don't let them control the conversation, and overall make the whole business model of harrassing people cost more money than it is worth, people will get less of these calls, and these so called "collection agencies" will hopefully go out of business. 15 - 20 seconds of a phone ringing that goes unanswered can mean an attempt to contact over 100 people an hour, plus a machine can call thousands an hour. 5 minutes or more of wasting an agents time means only talking to 12 people an hour. any company looking at that much time on the phone and no money coming in will not be able continue their extortionist practices. And maybe we can make it fun >:)