I used to react at this with self righteous and moral umbrage. But now I see that it's a bit more of a dicey problem than I first thought it to be. Practically speaking, I guess you could live some sort of Grizzly Adams life and be free without any money at all. But the vast majority of us utterly lack the passion or stamina for such an adventurous lifestyle, though some of us dabble in it. Freedom without money means that you don't work (at least not for money), take no subsidies from the government or receive anything from friends or charity, and you would probably end up going around begging and become, well, homeless (again, not a preferred lifestyle to most of us). So freedom or no freedom, this human world is set up so that if you want anything in the way of creature comforts then you will probably need money.

One of my favorite scenarios, and one in which I myself indulge in all the time, is the 'make a bunch of money and then retire in freedom' fantasy. In mine, I save up about 50 or 60 thousand dollars, buy a guesthouse on a tropical beach somewhere (preferably free of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis), and then just 'hang out' as mellow hippy-like backpackers flow in and out. This would be the ultimate retirement. But the trouble is, what would I do then? Fish and cook mainly I guess.

Now this might actually happen- that is to say, I may actually bring this about. But if we're talking about freedom, we all know that it exists either everywhere or it exists nowhere, not on tropical beach, a mountain cottage, or in Shangri-La. Freedom is in your heart, and it rings outward from within, and no, money cannot buy it.