"Because he was single, and in no one's debt," (to paraphrase a quotation characterizing Ichabod Crane in Washington Irving's famous short story), our professor could live a solitary existence free from the reaches of bill collectors and Internal Revenue auditors. Such a life has its attractions, as anyone who has ever been deeply in debt can tell you. It is a time-worn cliche that "money isn't everything," but try telling that to a person who is in danger of losing everything to bankruptcy or a vindictive ex-spouse. The professor can sleep peacefully at night, knowing that tomorrow has been paid for already.

Vince Lombardi's famous saying, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," comes to mind. Substituting money into the above equation provides an opposite message to that which is true. If money were everything,

On the other hand, the professor is relaxing in his hammock, looking up at the stars, listening to the crickets chirp. He has just listened to a Mozart string quartet on his portable stereo. He goes inside his hovel of a house to fix some sun tea that has brewed that afternoon. He does not own a phone, and he misses his sister, so he writes her a letter. He will ride his bicycle to the post office to deliver it tomorrow. While at the post office he will say hello to all the clerks who know him by name. Such is the beauty of frugality over excess.

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that personal happiness cou