NEWS from a modern day slave.

reply to post by shamus78


I apologize my friend, I speak out of envy. If I could ever get out of here, I would gladly come work with you. P.S. nice boat.

reply to post by dreamwalker74


Hi Dreamwalker,

I found myself in your situation a few years back, busting my gut at a job I hate just to keep myself afloat.

Life is a game of monopoly but in this game all the properties are bought and you dont have squat to start with.

My advice:
- Get a job you enjoy, find somthing that doesnt feel like a choir
- If you have money get away from society, downgrade your lifestyle. Stop upgradding it to make yourself happy - it just adds more things to worry about.
- Create a sustainable lifestyle - if you can afford to get some land with a shed on it and grow ur own crops and raise ur own animals. Get out of the system. The bank still owns ur house technically - but hey we can only play the cards we are dealt.
- Dont let it get you down, this is the hard part - we can feel trapped and enslaved but really think about this - worrying will not fix anything.. it only effects you! SO get mad that you have been put in that position BUT sit back and take a breather - have a laugh to urself and remember it's all a game. If you play the cards you are dealt the best you can then no matter what happens you know it was gonna happen anyway.

Peace brother - youre not alone in this

I get what the OP is saying.

What has happened in recent years.
Our jobs are becoming more challenging, in that if you survive rounds of layoffs you usually inherit somebody else's work load that is no longer with the company due to either attrition, retirement or layoff. At the very least that puts more pressure on the persons left behind, if you object strongly we know we will be gone in the next layoff rounds.
This makes us work under more stress and perhaps longer hours for the same pay, decreasing the quality of our lives.
Employers know the job market is very weak and they take advantage of the situation.
Result: Thousands of trapped economic slaves.

When you finally do get your paycheck you are taxed on your income, both on what you receive and on what you spend, as many area's have some form of sales tax.
Result: Thousands of tax slaves.

We are all Peons of the current system.

Happily my personal belief is that this current system that enslaves us in a monetary way, is going to come to an end, and soon.



[edit on 16-7-2010 by Blue_Jay33]

Originally posted by dreamwalker74
I have labeled this: News from a modern day slave, because this is who I am. My stepfather, years ago, was somehow able to convince me "If you work really hard, and do your damndest to advance, you will make it in this society".
I have found that "living the American Dream" That I am broke all the time. To give some background: 1. I own my own home (not really, the bank owns it) and I pay roughly $1000 dollars a month, which completely does away with one paycheck every month. I work my a$$ off for my company, and I do well. I made $40,000 dollars last year working "salary" for my company, where I work on average 60 hours per week, during the Summer 70 per week.
I don't have time to enjoy life. I barely have time, between work and sleep to evaluta life, and determine where I really am. Of course have all the basics that my position should be able to afford. I have cable TV, I have garbage pick up. I am able to pay my utiliy bill every month. My credit is excellent. I at the end, am barely able to feed myself. I worry every day about my job and my future. I am fully rational to the point that if something doesn't change I am bound to lose it. Is this the "American Dream"? If so you all can have it. I'm miserable most of the time. I don't see a way out, without doing away with all responsibility, I need to live my life differently, but I don't know how anymore. I am a modern day slave.

Any suggestions are more than valued.

-Thank You

Dreamwalker 74

Read this thread and all the links within it.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Then to understand HOW we got to where we are...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Why do more people not read these most important threads?
We can stop the insanity very easily. What's the problem, grow a pair and stand up for yourselves and family. You would be surprised to learn just how many people have actually done this.

I've been in, and still am, in the same position.

I've managed with about half of your salary. Owning my own home. Eating Ramen noodles and drinking V8 to get through some weeks. Basic amenities. Nothing lavish, but able to keep myself entertained. Then, a few years ago I met my wife and we married. Shortly after that I secured a better job earning quite a bit more money.

I was ecstatic at the thought that we'd actually have a little extra spending money with our combined salaries. But, with the upgraded house (now with a child) and mildly upgraded car (older Subaru) and with all the insurance that you have to have with a family, cars and home ... not to mention the day to day things like food and house hold items, it's actually HARDER to pay the bills. We still live week to week (not even paycheck to paycheck).

This isn't the American Dream. The American Dream died with the rise of the Military Industrial Complex and the World Economy. Inflation was by design. And you're right ... it's designed to create a "motivated" work force.

The answer is really easy.

Sell most of what you own, keep the things you really like or cant live without.

Put it in storage, then run away and join the Peace Corps.

reply to post by hdutton


You nailed it!

STOP keeping up with the Joneses in fact FRACK THEM.

Do whats right for you and your family, make quality time and put your time and energy into learning and teaching and real things like hiking and fishing and building things and taking time to see the world through the kids eyes.

Again we cannot let the matrix keep us, "Free your mind"

Sure life sucks and is rough but you don't have to focus on that. Look ahead and keep hope alive

Namaste

reply to post by dreamwalker74

you cant think like that a job change may help but if you feel like your pissing your life away then you will, read more, socialise more change your circles if every1 is as caught up in it all as you are but you cant give up as thats exactly what they want try and get out of the city if poss but if any nwo eyes are reading your post then your negative vibes will be giving them a hard on ive just started getting into spiritual reading and meditation start there try and get positive people around you i know its not always easy but if any of your life lends itself to chasing the buck your car your credit cards your wardrobe then you have to start there you still have plenty of time to turn it around

Honor your commitment to your family (if you have dependents, that is).

You can honor this in two ways:
1) Not quitting your vocation: Staying the course and working like a dog no matter how tough it is.
2) Quitting your vocation: having enough foresight to realize that you're eventually going to break and spontaneously quit or commit suicide.

Pick one.

If you're not committed to family then you have NO excuses for your current predicament.

Good on you for reaching out.

I think there is a way around it but it's risky and luckily I've come to the realisation relatively early in life that working a 9-5 to fulfil someone else's dream is just plain wrong so i've started taking time out of my day to take stock and just live life. far as bills and rent go, ive taken to working for myself buy low sell high kinda thing. im not extravagant in my spending so it all works out

reply to post by dreamwalker74



I have an idea because I have been going through the same thing for a long time. See my family is from Flawrence, Alabama which is located on the very northwest corner between mississippi and Tennessee which is a sort of remote area, but not as remote as some areas in the U.S.. I am going to ove there because I feel the same way as you. The reason I am moving there is because the land is cheap by the acor houses are cheap as well and when I say cheap I mean really cheap. It is very easy to sustain a garden with any crop and there is many motorsport activities such as boating, fourwheeling, hiking, camping (which is free in most spots even on the river.), and boating. Now don't get me wrong I am a city slicker for life but I have always felt at home there and when hopeless always end up going there to stay for a while. You should try it. very very very peaceful.

reply to post by rexusdiablos


Yes, I do have a family, and therefore I have and will continue to choose option one. It's not in my character to choose option two. But yep you nailed it on the head. I have taken the responsibilities upon myself. I shall continue to live with them the rest of my life. I will likely never be able to retire in my lifetime. I take all this as simple reality. It's just a damn shame, that this is how it works, but oh well it is.

reply to post by dreamwalker74


I'd never suggest quiting your job, thats just silly. But honestly, being of work now for two and a half years has had some blessing, and some draw backs. Ok, i cant afford a car, i had to move back with my mum, which is a real pain and i cant go out as much as i used to. But, i did go to college and now i will be going to university in September, i do have loads of time with my kid, i dont break my back 40 hours a week for minimum wage like i used to, and perhaps, after university, i can get a decent job. At 25 i feel i am in the right frame of mind now than i was a few years back.

Basically, i have drifted from dead end job to dead end job since i left school at 16, with no real goal or view of what i wanted. I left at 16 not cause i was dumb, but because i thought work was the main thing in life. How wrong i was. Now i read alot, something i never did in school, have plenty of time to do small project, like looking up ATS LoL, and even though me and my sons mother are no longer together, and i live in a different town, i see him nearly every day. Life is not about money and possesions, as i think most here on ATS know, but about living life no matter what hand you get dealt

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by dreamwalker74

 

Keep your job and make money, all the while stock up on food ammo guns barb wire and duct tape. grow food, find a group of mentally stable nuts to mix with, practice the silent centurion take down.
Wait for the signal.

Best post ever

OP, I feel your pain, my family, and most people I know, are in a similar
situation to yours. I find it sad that my husband and I have to both work full time to just barely get by, we both make decent money but it seems like the more we make, the more the government wants, bills increase regularly, food and gas jump up a little higher every month. Meanwhile we have to PAY to work, daycare, transportation and such. In the end, even if we made $10,000 more than we did last year, our cost of living went up the same, so it never changes or gets better.

I don't know anything short of selling everything and moving to the woods will change our situations, but if you seriously want alternative options, you can google "freeman on the land". I think it's mostly still in it's ideological stage, but I belive this may be a silent revolution aganist the laws that strangle us, and it has a good possibility of suceeding (in my opinion anyway).

Here is something to get you started Linky

Good luck, and I hope you find your happy place

Edit to add: Didn't realise you have family, it's harder to make any kind of radical change when your kid(s) may be affected.

[edit on 7/16/2010 by Hatcookie]

I only have two things to mention.... I would spend some time looking for a job with another company that pays more that you can do. Depending on who you work for just the act of looking around somewhere can get you a raise if you have made yourself valuable to the company.

Get on monster.com and some of the specialized job sites for what ever you do and start sending your resume in. Dice.com if you are in IT. If you find another company that pays 5k more a year than what you make now you just got a 25% increase in pay.

I am in the process now of asking my boss for a promotion after I have made myself very valuable and one of the tools I am using is showing job descriptions on monster.com that do less than what I do and pays 50 to 100 percent more than what I do. That has been sent up the ladder and used as justification for my promotion.

Aside from that cut out all costs you do not need as many other posters have said. A 30 or 40 dollar a month cable bill when you are budgeting that tight means 30 - 40 dollars of food on your table every month.

I make descent money, however my expenses have exponentially increased lately after taking on my gf who was recently laid off and her two kids.

So instead of going for the larger house around 1500 a month give or take a few hundred, I turned my condo into a 3 bedroom. It is much smaller but my mortgage payment which includes my cable and electricity is 550 a month and I live in a very nice neighborhood in a generally very expensive location.

That is to say if you don't need the 1000 dollar a month house then downgrade. There are always a ton of really good places to live that are cheap and it is a buyers / renters market right now in a crashing economy. Even a 750 a month place cuts costs down significantly. Just do your homework. Drive around the neighborhoods you want to live in and look for rent signs and start calling.

So to sum it up... ambition and being frugal. You can't lose. Just make yourself valuable enough to justify your ambition.

reply to post by XxRagingxPandaxX


Wow, that was actually some pretty good advice. Kinda hard to believe it came from a 15 year old, but keep that positive outlook as long as you can.

reply to post by dreamwalker74


Most likely you are unhappy because those around you are unhappy and this based on the consumer oriented and emotionally independant lifestyle you've bought into. IF your wife was happy you'd be happy, and IF your kids were happy you'd be happy but they're not are they? THey want more more more stuff, and only little if any of you. Women and children are media brainwashed to destroy the man in their life by being unsatisfieable and unsupportive. You might not see that just yet but that's the reason why you feel the way you do and that your life is a waste.
If a man feels appreciated and sincerely desired and included in his families life, in many ways that's all the reward he needs.

[edit on 16-7-2010 by mordant1]

Are things really that bad in America?

I'm 25 years old, working an entry level job in finance (that does not require a degree) and earning $40k for 37.5 hours per week.

I'm actually on vacation in Cape Cod as I write this, and it absolutely floored me how cheap everything is here. Compared to Canada, it's insanity. I bought groceries and it cost me $250 when back home the exact same thing would have cost me at least $400 or more.

I have to admit I'm pretty shocked that a managerial level job is only earning 40k, especially for thost types of hours. The system is truly broken if this is the reality.

I too am "living the americam dream" and cant wait to wake up from this nightmare...........
I have to admit though that I have been blessed enough to stay home with my my 3 kids and raise them instead of having a daycare raise them. But living on one income is really tough...were behind on everything, my husband truck(which he had to have) and our house take most of our income , I make it by by floating checks between paychecks which means by the time we get paid again, were already 200-300 $$ behind, the money is pretty much spent before its in the bank.
My kids are all in school now and have been since last year but finding a job is hard I tried all year last year with no luck. When school starts again I will begin my search all over again and hopefully have better luck this year. Being a stay at home mom for the past 6 years doesn't really look good on an app, they don't want to hire people who havent worked in a while. All I can do is pray that we can keep our noses above the ever rising waters and someone will finally hire me. A second income would be nice.

reply to post by dreamwalker74


Put an end to it. Find something better, but, don't trade one dead end job for another.

Find something that will allow for the lifestyle that you want. Better yet, before you go to bed, meditate and focus on the new lifestyle that you desire. If you do this, I promise you things will begin to drop in your lap.

Namaste and Love