Reply #72: ... or print your own money

[iverglas]

"Self-employment" in this age is just outsourcing by another name. I know. I'm self-employed, have been for over 25 years, make pots of money ... and have no security whatsoever. And no benefits. No 5-day week, no 8-hour day, no cost-shared pension plan, no sick leave, no disability benefits, no unemployment benefits.

None of the things that my union grandfather spent the dirty 30s fighting for.

I'm in a very, very specialized niche serving a very specialized "client". The one I used to work for, briefly. Very few people have the skills to create the kind of security that I do have by virtue of those specialized skills. Of course, I do live in a country where at least my health care is assured, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about that a USAmerican would.

"Self-employment", these days, is not much more than a fancy new term for "piece-work". I'm really a piece-worker, just a highly skilled and paid one. Most people who get their jobs converted to contracts aren't in quite the same bargaining position.

Those who are born to be self-employed, like me, will be that way more or less spontaneously. Becoming self-employed because you've been laid off and can't find a job ... not quite the same foundation or prospects.

A large majority of people don't really want to take anything back from the mega corps or anyone else. They want meaningful work, decent pay, time and resources for their families and security for their old age. There really isn't much wrong with wanting that. It actually used to be part of the social contract, and the labour-management contract. Back when there were unions, and a modicum of social cohesion ...