How soon until people have to VOLUNTEER to work for their corporate masters?

[Duer 157099]

I can see us heading down that road, where the stock market is the only source of income and that essentially, the shareholders will have to become the workers for the corporations that they are invested in. Essentially 100% remuneration in stock. Then how beholden will the public be to the corporations?

Frankly I think we are already there. Salaries and benefits are merely tokens now anyway, compared to what the cost of living really is.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. It's called 'interning'. n/t

[Barack_America]

3. Exactly what I was going to say.

:thumbsup:

[malletgirl02]

18. I was going to say the thing

Internships use to be for undergraduates, but there are many supposed career "experts"who suggest experienced unemployed workers do the same thing.

[DJ13]

2. Company towns with no escape seems to be the desire of our masters

[indy legend]

4. If Republicans regain control in 2010 & 2012 it'll be sooner than you think.

[Lorien]

5. Try life as a professional graphic designer, sculptor, animator or illustrator

these days. "If you do some free work for us think of all the great exposure you'll get." Even big corporations like Google and some of the gaming companies are pulling that crap lately. I suspect that the same is happening in other fields.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

7. Happening In Software Writing

You can embed links to your personal web page, face book page etc in the code, and invite others to access it through permutations of the key strokes. Then you put those "links" in your resume.

[laughingliberal]

6. If you're working for 30% less in terms of real wages you're already donating 30% of your time. nt

[Sherman A1]

8. +1000

You hit the nail on the head......

[upi402]

9. BP asks for volunteers on its website - NOT offering cleanup jobs

and MSNBC is touting for BP asking for volunteers with boats to clean up for free after BP raped us.

we are there

[Duer 157099]

10. Here's an example

Let's say you work for BP and that you get no salary, only stock. How motivated are you right now to do whatever it takes to increase BP's stock price?

Now extrapolate that out to all of the other corporations.

It's easy to imagine because we are already so close. Just think about the consequences (which we are witnessing right now).

[nichomachus]

11. That only becomes a problem if you believe the propaganda about stock ownership

The corporatists keep telling us that most Americans own stock and are the owners of the corporations. That is a lie.

First inconvenient fact: 90 percent of stock in American companies is owned by 10 percent of the people. These are the ultra wealthy. They will not be working for free.

Only 46 percent of Americans own any stock at all in any form, which means that -- excluding the ultra-wealthy -- only 36 percent of Americans own any stock in any form at all.

Much of that stock -- the 10 percent of stock divided among 36 percent of the people -- is owned indirectly, mostly through mutual funds, IRAs, 401Ks, etc. But it is the fund -- of which you are a member -- that owns the stock. You have no direct control either over the stock or over the company. And the fund can change your ownership position at any time without your knowledge. You are not an "owner" of the company in any way, shape or form.

Even if you do own stock directly, usually your ownership position in a company is so weak as to be laughable. Owning 100 shares -- or 1000 shares -- of Exxon Mobil won't even get you a free cup of coffee at the annual meeting. Exxon Mobile has 4.7 billion shares outstanding. How many do you think you would need to own to have any influence at all in corporate affairs?

[rrneck]

12. Sooner or later

it always seems to come down to this:



Lather, rinse, repeat. Just once I'd like to skip that step and fix it before it gets that bad.

[Peregrine Took]

13. If unemployment stays bad or gets worse I can see the day where people bid

a dollar amount to buy a job.

This might, also, include signing a contract to work so many weeks or months for free in order to catch the "prize" - each person promising more and more free time until the job is "won." This is in light of the thousands of people not applying for a few, individual positions.

I hope this day never comes but I'm just afraid it might be headed that way.

[femrap]

14. ....k and r

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU

I'll be singing this all night.

[stray cat]

15. Good news - stay unemployed or self-employed if corporate masters are all bad

if you want to avoid corporate masters - create your own jobs and revenue -why depend on someone else to do it for you?

[Berry Cool]

17. Because not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, nor wants to be.

Telling every person who is unemployed to go into business for himself or herself is absurd. Not everyone is equipped to perform every function necessary to run one's own business. And then there's the matter of having to pay for all the things employers may offer as benefits out of one's own pocket. Better be making enough money at your little business to finance your health care plan and your retirement, at least. Oh, and if you get sick or incapacitated or want to go on vacation, be prepared to make no money at all for the duration.

[laughingliberal]

20. These days many are having to cover all that out of their pockets even if employed.

We are rapidly returning to the pre-labor wars days.

[laughingliberal]

19. So, no one who works for others ought to be getting a fair wage?

And we should be required to take on more work for the same money (less in terms of buying power) every year? Back in the day the workers of America got together and fought against this. People who think the rulers won't take us back to the days of working 16/7 til and starving when you're no longer able have not been paying attention. That is the direction we've been heading for 30 years.

Some seem to be OK with that. I'm not.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. Um... what you're talking about is essentially a co-operative... NT