Your empathy with the poor guy's plight just blows me away, CU4.
I wasn't in Austin, no, never had the pleasure, but I hear it's a great little city and leaning a lot more to the left than most of the rest of the state.
This guy seemed to have a handle on the problem, he just didn't know where or how to start on the solution. IMHO, there IS no solution so he might as well have just tried to game the system and find what enjoyment he could in this lifetime. Ah, well, to each his own. He's not the first victim of capitalism and he won't be the last, he just found a more spectacular way than most to escape from Capitalist Hell.