The man who quit money (and the writer who told his tale)
Former river guide and Manhattan Beach native Mark Sundeen delivers a myth for our times – one that happens to be a true story Daniel Suelo, the subject of The Man Who Quit Money, written by Mira Costa grad Mark Sundeen. Photo by Benjamin Lesage In the first year of the twenty-first century, a man standing by a highway in the middle of America pulled from his pocket his life savings – thirty dollars – laid it inside a phone booth, and walked away. He was thirty-nine years old, came from a good family, and had been to college. He was not mentally ill, nor an addict. His decision appears to have been an act of free will by a competent adult. In the twelve years since, as the Dow Jones skyrocketed to its all-time high, Daniel Suelo has not earned, received, or spent a single dollar. In an era when anyone who could sign his name qualified for a mortgage, Suelo did not apply for loans or write IOUs. He didn’t even barter. As the public debt soared to eight, ten, finally thirteen trillion dollars, he did not pay taxes, or accept food stamps, welfare, or any other form of government handout. Instead he set up house in caves in the Utah canyonlands, where he forages mulberries and wild…
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