Why do we have to work so much just to live?

I can’t even… I curse this universe due to my disempowered position is the hi tech feudal Dark Age exploitation kingdom

the cosmos barks back with much bite…but you created your own life and position in this world…

 

I never understand this point of view. Before tech people had to work sunup to sundown 7 days a week just to eat. They didn’t have cars. Air conditioning, heat, phones, computers, everything that makes our lives more comfortable and easier. There were still rich, middle class, and poor. My grandmother got up at 4 am cooked breakfast, milked the cows, churned butter by hand and then went out and picked cotton all day, every day. Thank God I never had to do that. They didn’t get vacation, or sick leave, or any type of” leave” if they didn’t work the family starved. No government help. I think about how much easier we have it. Ever read about the Great Depression? My grandparents lived it, so no, I think we have it easier ( USA) than my grandparents ever did.

 

All generations have their own problems. Life may have been hard during the Great Depression and I'm not disputing that for a second but they also had things many people nowadays are lacking. Moral and cultural values are being eroded across the western world and replaced with a homogenised corporate sludge. Children born in the 90's and onward were sold a lie - that if you work hard you will succeed in life. They are growing up to be less well off than their parents and grandparents in almost every area and the problem is only getting worse. Technology makes life easier in some areas but it also destroys social cohesion and messes with a person's natural development. It's a proven fact (look it up) that people are getting dumber and dumber as time goes on. Within 100 years if nothing changes nobody will be educated enough to maintain the technology that our grandparents built. Our children's children will be living in the ruin of the world we knew.

 

Yes, wages have stagnated compared to general productivity and it's been like that for decades. Look at the value of houses 40-50 years ago versus now.

 

Because it’s a terrible system. It’s not how life is meant to be. Your typical slave job is completely unnatural compared to how humans should be living. Which is living off the land. The only work you’d have to do is farming in order to feed yourself. Which is much more fulfilling. Doesn’t even compare to this shit hole world we live in. The only solution is to escape somewhere and become self sufficient.

 

You are making a comparison between the wage slave of today vs the wage slave of 100 years ago. Neither are ideal.

 

They used to provide slaves with housing and food in order to do their work for them. Now they let you live on your own and as long as you do the work you make just enough to pay for those things yourself. Nothings changed. Just modern day debt slavery. Meanwhile those at the top print the money out of thin air. Hahaha. All you need is a printing press and you can be a trillionaire. That is if you were part of the club when it started.

 

Something something the industrial revolution and its consequences...

 

More like the federal reserve and it’s consequences

 

There is some validity in what you say, but one huge problem we have today is our pathetic need to consume so much unnecessary stuff. Compare what your grandparents owned with their one salary for a good life compared to our modern times with excessive consumption. I think most people could live on a much smaller wage if they consumed less. Our excessive consumption is creating an environmental crisis that will be a much bigger issue than the issue of working longer hours.

My examples are for middle to upper middle income brackets. Poverty levels have always been around and are a hard issue to solve. Super wealthy have been around for a long time with the advent of the Industrial revolution, although today there seems to be a much bigger gap between the wealth of the top 1% and the rest of the world.
- Your grandparents had a smaller house, giant houses for 2 people with 1.5 kids is a new phenomena.
- Your grandparents had fewer clothes and kept clothes for much longer than we do today
- Your grandparents had 1 car, their kids didn't get a car when they turned 16 like many families I see.
- Your grandparents had 1 TV, not a TV in 5 different rooms.
- Look at all the stuff kids get today, some before they are even 10-years old: A $1000 cellphone, themed birthday parties that can cost $300 - $1000, travel sports leagues, etc.
- Your grandparents owned less things, had greater pride in what they owned, and had the wisdom to know what makes a happy life - Spending time with their family and friends. Spending time with family and friends is super rewarding and can cost very little or no cost at all.

The other side of the coin is to learn a valuable skill and then go demand someone pay you a fair wage for the skill that you provide. I do agree that the Amazon workers and many others are getting screwed, but I bet even those poor workers have a crap load more stuff than your grandparents did.

 

I think our work just needs to be more productive and meaningful. Most work isn’t, but we still need the productive people to work. Without them inflation and supply shortages would be terrible

 

It sounds like your complaint is taxes, and yes they are high and unfair. Taxes are unfair because the wealthy have tax loopholes where they can pay almost nothing for taxes while we get crushed.
The only fair tax is a flat rate tax, everyone pays the same percentage based on income. Example is a 10% flat tax rate - If you make $10,000 you pay $1000 in taxes, if you make $1,000,000 pay $100,000. It will never happen because the wealthy control the politicians that control the people who make the tax laws.
The only answer is find a way to make an income where you don't pay taxes (illegal but who cares) or get a higher wage for the work you do.

 

100% agree. People think they “ need” far more than they do. Many times it is a “ want” not a need. I learned several trades and got two college degrees( cash flowed my college while working full time) I’ve had my own business, and worked for others. I worked 3 jobs at one point to buy my first house at 23, a fixer, flipped it 3 years later. Then bought 40 acres bare land and lived in a $3500 mobile home, no heat no air, until we paid off the land then built our house ourselves. We didn’t have anything extra, no eating out, no extra car, no kids until accidentally 10 years later. You must be very frugal and deliberate about your money only going to necessities. It’s easier if you know it’s not forever and you have goal. My friends literally made fun of us while they went out to dinner, bought new cars, and a lot of extra stuff.

 

I agree.

 

Feeling this way isn't anything new. The book of Ecclesiastes (written around the 3rd century BC) said the following about work:

So I hated life, because the things that happen under the sun were troublesome to me. Definitely, everything is pointless—just wind chasing. I hated the things I worked so hard for here under the sun, because I will have to leave them to someone who comes after me. And who knows whether that one will be wise or foolish? Either way, that person will have control over the results of all my hard work and wisdom here under the sun. That too is pointless. I then gave myself up to despair, as I thought about all my laborious hard work under the sun, because sometimes those who have worked hard with wisdom, knowledge, and skill must leave the results of their hard work as a possession to those who haven’t worked hard for it. This too is pointless—it’s a terrible wrong. I mean, What do people get for all their hard work and struggles under the sun? All their days are pain, and their work is aggravation; even at night, their hearts don’t find rest. This too is pointless.