Anti Wage-Slavery Pro-Freedom Quotations Of The Week 1792-1794

What’s there to do? It’s just a perversity of capitalism that not only is our labor a commodity to be bought as dearly as possible but on top of it all we are expected to sell it ourselves. It’s an exercise in insincerity as we try to embellish and fluff our way into the favor of a bored HR rep just so we can keep the lights on at home. That’s our lot.

There’s something of the court jester to the routine — dancing for the amusement of aloof and capricious kings. A differential in power suffuses every syllable. We have to differentiate ourselves from a crowd of the equally desperate, paupers clutching at the cloaks of nobles as they pass us by.
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What would a world look like in which we stopped selling ourselves? What would a world look like in which work is a dirty necessity, best left to machines? We’ll achieve that technological point within the lifetimes of people alive today. Can we reach it socially? The future of our species may well depend on it.
Don’t Sell Yourself
Peter Breslauer
Medium
 [emphasis JS]

 One solution to income inequality is giving out free cash, according to the British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson.

“A basic income should be introduced in Europe and in America,” Branson told David Gelles of The New York Times.

Branson was responding to the question, “What do you think those in positions of power should do to address social problems like income inequality?”

In a report published in January, the global charity Oxfam found that 82 percent of the growth in global wealth in the previous year went to the top 1 percent of individuals ranked by riches. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent had no increase in their wealth, the report says.

“It’s a disgrace to see people sleeping on the streets with this material wealth all around them,” Branson said.
Billionaire Richard Branson: America should give out free cash to fix income inequality
Catherine Clifford   
CNBC
[emphasis JS]


Perhaps most importantly, it would offer people real freedom, to choose their own destinies and build their own futures. A low-wage, full time job would change from panicked subsistence to a more-or-less comfortable living with a little money in the bank for retirement. A part-time job would be enough to fund higher education or artistic pursuits. With no EI premiums, no minimum wage, and basic income as a fallback, the entrepreneurial spirit would flourish and small businesses would pop up all over, and with less overhead be in general more likely to succeed. And folks who still wanted to work hard, excel in business, and make their fortune, could still do so, and would still be able to enjoy the fruits of their labours just as much.
Rob MacLeod
comment section
B.C. to explore how basic income could work in the province
The Canadian Press