Working Sucks

Some of the things in this article I agree with, working does suck... interesting...

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Working Sucks

Day after day we get up early and trudge to work. We swallow our pride and put up with being ordered around by the boss. We sweat and toil at jobs we hate, wasting away our lives. Why do we do it? Because we have to? Because we need the money? Or because we don't know how to live any other way?

As Americans we work way too hard. Most of us work 40 or more hours a week from when we are 18 years old until after we turn 60. One in four American workers works more than 49 hours a week. One in eight works more than 60 hours a week and one in ten holds down more than one Job.

And we keep working more and more. Americans have added 20 extra work days to our work year since 1970. American factory workers work an average of five weeks a year in overtime alone. Americans work two months more per year than the French and the Germans. We must be crazy.

Working this hard is weird and unnatural. For hundreds of thousands of years before the dawn of history, people lived as hunter-gatherers and simple farmers. Hunting and gathering is a pretty relaxed way to make a living. Modern hunter-gatherers like Native Australians "work" less than four hours a day. Even after we gave up the forests and built cities, we still didn't work very hard. During medieval times in Europe, people worked as few as 120 days a year.

There is no reason for us to be working so hard. As advances in technology help us work more productively, we should be able to work less. Today, American workers are ten times more productive than we were 100 years ago. That means, for every hour we work today, we produce as many goods and services as workers produced in ten hours in 1890. That also means we should be able to work one tenth as much, and live just as well, as people did back then. That would be less than eight hours of work a week!

Since we don't work eight hours a week, where did all that extra productivity go? A lot of it went as profits into the pockets of the rich. The rich in America are richer than any other group of people ever in the history of the world. If we work harder or better, our rich bosses aren't under any obligation to pay us more or let us work less. Sadly, that's how capitalism works. (Capitalism really sucks, but that's beyond the scope of this pamphlet. There are books listed at the end that go into some depth about how capitalism sucks and what we can do about it.)

The rest of that productivity went into "improving" our standard of living. We made a decision to buy more rather than work less. Some of the things we bought really did improve the way we live. Very few homes in 1890 had running water, electricity, or flush toilets. But most of what we bought were fluff consumer products like big cars and color TVs that are fun to own, but that we don't really need. The question is: why did we make this choice? Why did we choose to buy more crap instead of working less?

Think about this. While the demand to make the workplace more efficient is always growing, the people that demand it become less efficient over time, giving their selves raises, buying extravagant things, why aren't they held to the same bar? Same goes for politicians.

Do these points not make you want to start your own business so you are your own boss?

Work your ass off at two jobs, save save save and do what you want in life. It works, I've seen it with my own eyes. If your "pride" will not allow you to work for others, sell everything you own and move somewhere, say the Australian outback and live off the land.

Complaining gets us nowhere. Life is for those who take it by the balls and make what they want of it.

Submit to society and your dreams become your slavery. they got it all figured out. there more than happy to give you credit to buy a new Mercedes if your lucky enough not to have ruined at 18,sorry to basically be their slave

Originally posted by nightbringr
Do these points not make you want to start your own business so you are your own boss?

Work your ass off at two jobs, save save save and do what you want in life. It works, I've seen it with my own eyes. If your "pride" will not allow you to work for others, sell everything you own and move somewhere, say the Australian outback and live off the land.

Complaining gets us nowhere. Life is for those who take it by the balls and make what they want of it.

Yes, and I am in the process of (cross my fingers) trying to get a business up and running...

Originally posted by Haites
Submit to society and your dreams become your slavery. they got it all figured out. there more than happy to give you credit to buy a new Mercedes if your lucky enough not to have ruined at 18,sorry to basically be their slave

And if you accept a loan for a Mercedes at 18 and are not born into wealth, you deserve to be broke. Did someone put a gun to your head and make you buy a Mercedes, or could you have sufficed with a $2000 Civic until you can afford something nicer?

I swear, schools should be teaching basic financial responsibility. Does no one know how to save before making major purchases anymore? In the case you illustrated, its is YOUR fault your a slave to debt, no one elses.

reply to post by pityocamptes


Then good for you! At least you are trying to make something of yourself and for that i applaud you.

No one really wants to work, but if you work hard to get to where you want to be and perhaps the job you would most enjoy, life is good. I spent many years getting to where i am and live a very happy, successful life.