Bankruptcy stuff

Some of you may know that Zena and I are going through the process of bankruptcy due to my poorly executed small business fiasco. We both feel that it will be the fastest way for us to get back to financial independence and pretty much everyone we have talked to with an opinion on it agrees.

Except of course, for those who represent creditors. A required step in the process is taking an online class put together by representatives of banks, credit card companies, and so on, educating us on how to properly design a budget and giving us a full list of all the options other than bankruptcy that we have to discharge our debt, such as:
1. Paying it
2. Getting a loan to pay it
3. Borrowing from friends or family to pay it
4. Have you tried... paying it yet?
5. Bankruptcy I guess, loser.

Not actually joking about that last part, discussions on bankruptcy were limited to the very end of the course, and sort of described almost as a cop out, for those who don't have the dedication to pay debt off by traditional means, no mention of course of those who just plain don't have the money to do so.

The course is pretty much the most classist, tone-deaf way to talk about debt that you can imagine, other than some very basic lessons, like a general overview of how to make a budget, a talk about the credit reporting agencies poor practices, which seemed out of place, and a bit of grudging legalese about bankruptcy and your rights relating to it. There is very little of use here, it reads, and sounds, like rich people attempting to talk about being poor, yes, I said sounds, it is narrated and has video, both done by this Marco Rubio(R, FL) looking dude, so you know I have lost a lot of trust from the very start.

When you live below the poverty line, suggestions like refinancing your home do very little good, same with the constant references to saving for your retirement, and how if you aren't saving, you are KILLING YOUR FUTURE or some shit. Well excuse me to hell Senator, but how does having a retirement fund help me if I can't pay rent tomorrow?
Also their suggested budget percentages are out of touch with reality, 30% for housing? Sure if you rent an apartment and make fifty grand a year, otherwise no way. It's like it was written in the 90s and only partially updated since then.
It wasn't written with real poor people in mind though, to these people the only ones who matter are the middle-lower class folks who spent beyond their means and got into debt, those are the ones with large mortgages and credit card debt in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, those folks wouldn't be poor if A: They didn't attempt to live beyond their means, and B: The entire financial system in America is designed to push people into making that very mistake at every turn. Sometimes it isn't even a mistake! You can do everything right and then get fucked by something entirely beyond your control, a health issue, car accident, fire, robbery, losing a job, and so one.

This course is really targeted towards the middle class who are finding themselves in untenable situations, the advice just isn't relevant to people like me and Zena, or indeed, 99% of my peer group.
Of course when I say applicable, I mean predatory, because like I said the majority of the class consists of ways to convince you to pay your debt like a good cog in the machine, the money Zena and I owe is chump change to them, we are literally almost beneath their notice.
Almost, of course we still have to jump through the hoops, to complete the stripping of dignity, we both now have to call a toll-free number and speak to a "counselor" before they will send a certificate showing we completed the hour long exercise in tedium, I am sure they will do their best to call us losers in every way except actually outright saying it, but I'll find out tomorrow I guess, they were closed tonight, they close at 7PM central time, which is wonderfully convenient for those of us who work a day job let me tell you.

Basically I am saying fuck the banks, eat the rich