The Reason You Work So Hard to Participate in the Rat Race
by M.J.
Higby
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “A man in debt is so far a slave.” Money has no intrinsic value yet we spend our days damaging our health and spirit in order to obtain it. Why do we sacrifice our well-being for it? Is it the cliché that “we just want to provide a better life for our kids than we had?” Is it just way of the civilized world? The most important question to ask, however, is what power do we have to change this way of thinking and living? The reality is simple: money is a vehicle for social control. Debt makes us good, obedient workers and citizens.
The traditional workweek started in 1908 at The New England Cotton Mill in order to allow followers of the Jewish religion to adhere to Sabbath. With the passage of The Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, the 40-hour workweek became the norm. Data from the 2013 American Community Survey showed that the average commute time in America is about 26 minutes each way. According to a Gallup poll, the average workweek in America is 34.4 hours, however, when only taking into account full time workers, that average shoots up to 47, or 9.4 hours per day during a 5-day workweek. Keeping averages in mind then, between commuting, working and figuring in an hour for lunch (usually less), that puts us at approximately 11 hours and 40 minutes for the average full time worker. If you have a family with young kids, just add in another few hours for homework, baths, etc.
When the day is done, how much time do you have for yourself? To exercise, meditate or otherwise unwind the way that all the healthy living gurus preach? And how much of yourself, your presence of mind, is left to devote to family? We give the company the heat of our most intense mental fire while our families get the smoke. Yet Jeb Bush, the 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, says we need to work more.
The answer to why we put ourselves through this daily grind is multifaceted. The most pervasive reason is workplace and societal pressures. We are raised in a matrix of sorts. The cycle starts around the age of five when we are expected to adhere to a regimented 8-hour day of school. At this age, we don’t have the intellect to question why, so we mechanistically follow the path that’s laid out. This daily path becomes engraved in our minds and becomes as automatic as the sun’s daily journey. Our school system is adept at churning out working class individuals en masse. We are taught along the way not to question authority, again adhering to the working class mentality.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are those in power. They are the ones that like to color outside the lines. Many books abound with titles such as The Wisdom of Psychopaths that illustrate how people with psychopathic traits, ones who don’t tend to follow rules, are often found in managerial roles such as CEOs all the way up to presidents of countries. With these rare manipulative, coldhearted personalities in place and the rest of us following like good sheeple without questioning, the stage is set for compliance.
If you have been in the working world long enough, then the following statement should ring true: if you work extra hours, you are a great worker; if you decline, you’re useless and apathetic. In the work world, there’s typically no in between. The pressure to succeed for the pride and benefit of the company unfortunately supersedes that of the pressure to be a good parent, sibling, son or daughter. According to a study done by the economic policy institute, between 1948 and 2013, productivity has grown 240% while income for non-managerial workers has grown by 108%. To make up for this discordance, pride of doing what’s best for the company has been employed as a motivational tactic. This tactic has been used as a sharp IV needle that’s been inserted into our veins and we have willingly ingested the contents that are injected through it. Pressure to conform toward achieving the company’s goals has overcome our will to be compensated accordingly.
When we look at someone who drives a luxury car and lives in an upscale part of town, we see this as success because of how often that visual of it has been pounded tirelessly into our minds. We fail to see that these are nothing but symbols of success and false ones at that. They appear real because as a society, we have been conditioned to see them this way by the advertising industry.
In the book, The Millionaire Next Door, the authors annihilate this illusion. Numbers don’t lie and the statistics show that most true millionaires, those with a net worth of over one million dollars, do not own those luxuries that we typically associate with success and wealth. They view them as the reality of what they are: a depreciating liability. According to the book, the typical millionaire owns a home in the two to three hundred thousand dollar-range and a non-luxury automobile. If something goes wrong with either, they have the cash reserves to fix it. On the other hand, the commonplace owner of the luxury home and car can’t afford the roof and the tires respectively without going deeper into debt if they should need replacing.
Ownership of these symbols of wealth becomes a self-perpetuating illusion to satisfy the psychological need for acceptance. Unfortunately, human behavior dictates that emotional needs often override logical thinking. It’s been said that the borrower is slave to the debt-owner and with luxury items, debt is the rule, not the exception. Debt is healthy for those in power and contributes to a needy and thus obligated worker.
The current wisdom of slave, spend and save for retirement has only one destiny. That destiny can be summed up in three sentences. Spend your healthiest and most productive years working to support a life of materials and thus illusions of success while elevated stress damage your health. During this time, be sure to save enough money for retirement so you can enjoy those years of the subsequent poor health. And lastly, do it in the name of pride for your company and country.
I take pride in being American, as I’m sure most Americans do, however, if you’re reading this you’re likely smart enough to see the holes in the daily grind. It saps our creative potential and our physical, as well as our spiritual energy. We don’t need any studies to tell us how stressed we are and subsequently, how unhealthy we are. The physical manifestations of stress such as obesity, hypertension, heart disease, increased risk of cancer, depression, anxiety and many others tell us all we need to know. They tell us that we need a better work/life balance. They tell us that the pendulum has swung too much in the direction of work and away from life. Fortunately, there’s a way that we can take it back.
The most important way to restore this balance is to realize the power that we, as consumers, hold. Tyler Durden, the protagonist in the film, Fight Club said it best…
“…advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.”
The marketing and advertising industry know, more than anyone else, what motivates the human mind and how to tap into those instinctual drives. To defend against this industries seductiveness, we need to journey within ourselves and bring to light what’s really important to us. What most of us will find is that experiences and time well spent, not materials, are what makes us happy. In the book, aptly titled Well Being, the authors Tom Rath and Jim Harter discuss how experiences have been proven to make us happier than material possessions.
We revel in the anticipation of the experience, we enjoy the experience itself and we look back on it fondly for as long as we live. We do this while the expensive car or house that we borrowed money long ago to obtain falls apart causing us to borrow more money. If we live according to the rule that everything we purchase, with the exception of a home, is acquired by cash, then we fail to become slaves to debt and by extension, work. We no longer relinquish our power to creditors.
Oscar Wilde was famously quoted as saying that anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. Materialistically speaking, living by this notion will bind us with shackles to a life of debt servitude. When we rip those shackles of debt from our wrists, our minds become clear and we see what truly makes us happy. We spend more time with friends and family. We focus on our passions and hobbies. In essence, we get back to the foundation of what it means to be human. After all, none of us will ever arrive upon the mountain of our last moments of existence wishing we spent more time at the office. We will instead arrive wishing we completed that book, that painting or that experience with those we love most. For those can be purchased not with debt, but with time. And there is no more cunning, covert and deceitful thief of time as that villain we call debt.
About the Author
M.J. Higby practices medicine in Phoenix, AZ. He is passionate about martial arts, most notably Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He enjoys writing about mental, spiritual and physical well being and questioning the methods by which we attain it. You can reach him on Facebook and Twitter @MJHigby
How Student Loan Debt is Turning Us Into Serfs
The Medieval era is well known for being littered with feudal societies, ruled by royalty and served by serfs who kept the system running with back-breaking labor. Contrary to popular opinion, though, the serfs weren’t exactly what we would call ‘slaves.’ They definitely had more rights and opportunities than many of their ancestors from the Roman Empire, and they weren’t owned by other people.
Instead, they were merely ‘tied down.’ They often didn’t have the freedom to move about, not because there were walls and watchtowers keeping them penned up, but because they were beholden to the land. They had to pay part of their income if they wanted to stay on that land, and if they wanted any kind of protection.
And because their world was far more dangerous than ours, they desperately needed the protection of the lords and their soldiers, which meant that they couldn’t risk leaving their land for better opportunities. In most feudal societies, it wasn’t politics that kept the people down, it was their financial situation.
In much the same way that feudalism kept its people tied to the land for multiple generations, our current financial system is also producing a perpetual serf class; mainly through the issuance of student loans. Unlike most debts (of which we have plenty) there is no escaping these loans. In most cases, you don’t have the option to declare bankruptcy and start anew with a clean slate. As a result, many of our citizens are not only carrying heavy debts, they’re laying the groundwork for having indebted children as well.
Data analyzed exclusively by the AP, along with surveys about families and rising student-debt loads, show that:
• School loans increasingly belong to Americans over 40. This group accounts for 35% of education debt, up from 25% in 2004, according to the New York Federal Reserve. Contributing to this surge are longer repayment schedules, more midcareer workers returning to school, and additional borrowing for children’s education.
• Generation X adults — those 35 to 50 — owe about as much as people fresh out of college do. Student-loan balances average $20,000 for Generation X. Millennials, 34 and younger, have roughly the same average debt, according to a report by Pew Charitable Trusts.
• Gen X parents who carry student debt and have teenage children have struggled to save for their children’s educations. The average they have in college savings plans is just $4,000, compared with a $20,000 average for teenagers’ parents who aren’t still repaying their own school loans, Pew found. A result is that many of their children will need to borrow heavily for college or pursue cheaper alternatives, thereby perpetuating a cycle of family debt.
• Student debt is surpassing groceries as a primary expense for many borrowers, with the gap widening most for younger families. The average college-educated head of the household under 40 owes $404 a month in student debt payments, according to an AP analysis of Fed data. That’s slightly more than what the government says the average college-educated family spends at the supermarket.
There are now two separate debt cycles at work here. Ever since the government started issuing these loans and made them nearly impossible to default on, it has given the colleges an incentive to raise prices. And since these loans allowed more people to go to college, the marketplace is saturated with college grads, and their education quality is often watered down. This means that the average person now needs a higher education to set themselves apart from their peers, which of course costs more money. And on and on it goes.
And these massive debts have spawned another horrible cycle between parents and their children. It’s already incredibly difficult to start a family when you owe tens of thousands of dollars, but for those who do, they now have less money to save for their children’s education. Surely, their progeny will also be burdened with debt if they decide to follow their parent’s footsteps. Considering that around half of America’s college graduates are stuck in jobs that don’t require a college degree, that would probably be an awful mistake to make.
Our society is already populated by millions of people working menial jobs while burdened with absurd debts that will keep them ‘tied down’ for the rest of their lives. So there really isn’t much distance left between us and our medieval ancestors. The only thing that was missing from this situation, was the passing of these debts to our children. However, we’re no longer robbing our future progeny with these debts. Now it’s happening to our children in the present. Feudal America has officially arrived for those who are trying to improve their lot in life with a college education.
About the Author
Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .
From Waking Times @ http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/09/28/reason-you-work-so-hard-to-participate-in-the-rat-race/
and http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/10/06/how-student-loan-debt-is-turning-us-into-serfs/
For more information about wage slavery see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/wage%20slaves
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Also take into consideration that most every job is unnecessary, really how many jobs are needed to run a highly efficient production and distribution system that can be operated at optimum functioning capacity through a streamlined automation process that will not consider any planned wastage programs needed for today's scarcity based debt slave system. Statistically speaking roughly 90% of all current jobs are not needed, they're wasteful, time consuming and a huge drain on our vital natural resources.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I agree, money has "no intrinsic value" unless we're burning it to keep warm.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these articles are excellent and very relevant.
ReplyDeleteI would add that for retired people still owing on student loans, the government will take out money from their monthly social security allowance.In 2013, the government garnished about $150 million in Social Security benefits from Americans to pay back their student loans.
These student loans were given out like freakin candy, no one can tell me this was not a deliberate plan to indebt young people, and keep them straddled in the system. And there is no chance for default on these loans. Missing a few payments invites dunning calls and letters, but defaulting has the potential to destroy your future. Being on the dark side of federal student debt means the feds can demand payment in full, assign your case to a collection agency, garnish your wages, pocket any state or federal refunds, and even come after your benefits in your old age. "We see people who defaulted on loans in the 1970s and 1980s whose Social Security benefits are being garnished," says Paul Combe, of American Student Assistance, an agency that guarantees federal loans. Worse yet, old, neglected loans carry decades' worth of fees, interest and collection costs. "A $2,000 loan that defaulted 20 years ago is now $30,000,"
The Department of Education and loan guaranty agencies may also garnish wages to collect a borrower's student loan debt. It is unnecessary to obtain a court judgment prior to garnishment. The Department and the loan guaranty may garnish up to 15 percent of the debtor's disposable income. The amount must be less than 30 times the hourly minimum wage ($7.25/hour effective July 24, 2009), however. Therefore,the Department or agency may garnish no more than $217.50 of a debtor's weekly income. One of the most effective methods that the Department of Education and loan guaranty agencies use to collect defaulted student loan debt is to seize a borrower's tax refund. Every year the IRS receives a report from the Department with a list of student loans in default. Some states allow professional and vocational boards to revoke, suspend, or refuse to certify a license when the member has defaulted on student loan debt. This typically applies to attorneys, medical professionals, teachers, and state officers.The Department of Education can sue to collect on a student loan default. Because a statute of limitations is inapplicable, the agency has no time limitations on collecting the debt.
The Department can collect from assets such as bank accounts, valuable property, and can place a lien on the borrower's real property. As the result of such a lien, the borrower may not sell the property until the lien is removed.
If the borrower does not have enough valuable assets or a lawsuit would exceed the amount recovered from the debtor, the Department will most likely decide against suing the borrower
My advice to young people-SCREW college.It's a debt trap- I know young people in their 20's working in food trucks, waitressing, and working in low-wage jobs because there is no work available in their field, and living with mom and dad, because their income after paying on a 25000 plus student loan, places them out of bounds to live independently.
This is INSANITY, DON'T DO IT.
I am a baby boomer, but when I was young, I observed this world, and common sense told me where the world was headed. I decided not the bring children into the world. And I am so grateful for that foresight. And no, I never regretted the decision.
If you live below your income, you are rich, if you live above your income, you are poor. It's that simple. Get our of debt and stay out of debt, as soon as you can.We should grant a full jubilee on ALL debt. This would free humanity. But no, we must allow the rich bastards to control even our children! and of course, finance the war machine, so the greedy, psychopathic bankers and their criminal friends can keep us enslaved.
Sounds like you're talking about my situation, free your mind! Student loans are a great big con. If suddenly you become disabled end up on social security, they'll take away from your benefits for life, even if you only received $2,000 for a college loan that you were talked into getting to help pay the rent. College is indeed a scam. Though needed if you plan on entering the rat race on the perpetual merry-go-round and round and round!
DeleteTurn on. Tune in. But above all OPT OUT and create something better with likeminded friends and loved ones, beyond the purview of purblind urban dwellers. DO IT NOW!
ReplyDelete