Modern Day Slave - An Essay

[draco664]

Bumping this thread back up, with an article that explains many of the reasons behind the things being discussed here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-th...876148381.html

An interesting article, with a point that I think bears repeating. The stockmarket in the US has grown by 1300% in 40 years.

The problem is that in order to fuel that sort of gain, the US economy has gone from being a 'producing economy' to a 'service economy'. A lot of things that used to be made in house are now made in China/Taiwan/some other 3rd world country.

The problem is that a service driven economy is far more vulnerable to a downturn than a manufacturing driven economy. You can sell stuff you make elsewhere in the world, but you generally can't serve someone in another country.

Creating something and selling it means that money is coming in from those who consume your product. So long as there is a market somewhere, you can then use that money to pay for your livestyle. A downturn can be counteracted by lowering prices, producing less to create more demand, that sort of thing.

Serving generally involves passing money around. If it stops, it's damned hard to get going again. A downturn means that everyone is affected, and a slowing down of the money flow makes people cautious, which in turn slows the money flow down even more. A negative feedback loop is far harder to reverse.

I think a lot of people have a problem with accepting the freedom of "Obey my managerial authority or starve on the streets at my whim." Blithely accepting the loss of your housing, transport, medical care, and larder because you didn't want to work that overtime is a bit much to expect, don't you think?

Is it? I would say so, but shouldn't *some* responsibility be on you to ensure you are not in that position in the first place? I certainly wouldn't spend a second longer in that position than absolutely necessary. I do understand that a lot of people prefer the perceived security of a salaried job. My mother was aghast that I would give up a steady paycheck to go it alone. But her generation could work for the one company for 40 years and retire on a good pension. Nowdays, companies will shed staff to save a couple of bucks. There is no employee loyalty when there is no employer loyalty. When the main benefit of a salary is gone, why stick around?

Freedom, after all, is a harsh and merciless thing that doesn't care if you die.

Absolutely. Freedom is terrifying. Most people prefer to be protected.

But not liking the consequences is not the same thing as not having a choice.