Do you feel like Having to Work is un-natural?

Originally posted by CholmondleyWarner
reply to post by Golden Boy

 

"The second bit, though - about the road tax - is actually rather unimportant. Yes, you're paying some money, but unless the UK's policies are absolutely outrageous,..." quote.

The UKs governments policies concerning tax are outrageous... Just thank your lucky stars you don't live here in "Rip-off Britain."

Ha! I'll take your word for it.

My point, though, is that there's a difference between "high taxes" and "policies put in place to keep the citizens in slavery".

reply to post by CholmondleyWarner


Do you think bridges, roads, sewage, hospitals and policing, as well as homeland defense is free?

You NEED to pay taxes to enjoy the level of lifestyle we have become accustomed to in the West. Yes, there is tons of wastage and corruption, but you need to pay your taxes or else you can expect to have no roads, running water, sewage, police, and so many other things that you obviously take for granted.

reply to post by nightbringr

Correct but tell me this, why is it that the government say they have no money to give nurses, police, firemen, teachers, etc, a decent pay rise but they have billions to give to Europe to bail out Ireland!? Why do they feign poverty yet plough billions into illegal wars, and bailing out the bankers who caused this problem in te first place...

reply to post by GeminiSky


I hate work.Im a contractor. I sometimes i have stay away from home for months and work long hours just to earn a living to pay my bills so that i can keep a roof over my families head, pay heating bills, pay electricity bills, water, phone , food etc. This is part of life in in our current progression in our civilisations evolution. Sadly, we are in an industrial age, and if it wasn't for workers then you/we wouldn't have gas ,elec, and such. We all have to be a part of this working machine if you want that little extra or luxury in life. Personally, i do it for my 2 children. Would i F*** work though if i won lottery or something similer!!

Originally posted by CholmondleyWarner
reply to post by nightbringr

 

Correct but tell me this, why is it that the government say they have no money to give nurses, police, firemen, teachers, etc, a decent pay rise but they have billions to give to Europe to bail out Ireland!? Why do they feign poverty yet plough billions into illegal wars, and bailing out the bankers who caused this problem in te first place...

Some very interesting reading here.....

The Taxpayer's Alliance

Originally posted by CholmondleyWarner
reply to post by nightbringr

 

Correct but tell me this, why is it that the government say they have no money to give nurses, police, firemen, teachers, etc, a decent pay rise but they have billions to give to Europe to bail out Ireland!?

Budgets.

A good friend of mine got to say goodbye to his dying father all the way up to half hour before he died and his mind was still crisp, (stomach cancer) and after he told his kids how much he loves them, the last thing he did was apologize to his children for working to much and putting money ahead of time with his kids.

That being said this happened when we were seniors in high school and it stuck with me since (46 now)
So I always looked for jobs with little hours and time to be free with my family. I lucked out and bought a bread route right after high school , and since had other bread and cookie routes Hours have been great 3-4 am to around 8-9 am in all those years never worked more then 5-6 hours a day and made great money. Always had time to do things with the kids (wife always had more of a demanding job).
Now being 46 sold my last route this pass November and have myself only needing to work one week a month for cash. Now with the kids being adults and living in different areas I can still get with them .

It is absolutely unnatural the way we live our lives in this society. Peter from Office Space was right. Humans are not meant to do this. Humans are built to use both sides of our brains. However the reasoning side of our brains are dormant. We don't question what we do on a daily basis. We put it in auto pilot mode and comply. We think we have to live this way to have food, shelter and a high quality of life. We think we have to do these silly, mundane, inhumane jobs because it's what makes the world go round.

Actually, it's what makes the corporations go round. The corporations that make the products that we want. We are addicted to material possession. It's ingrained in us from birthday number 1 and reinforced by society everyday after.

With the resources the planet provides and the state of science and technology, we have the potential for a much higher quality of life for every single human. But we won't get there until we give up our materialism. Until then we will have to keep running on the wheel, 12 hours a day, for food, shelter and Jersey Shore.

Originally posted by nightbringr
reply to post by CholmondleyWarner

 

Do you think bridges, roads, sewage, hospitals and policing, as well as homeland defense is free?

You NEED to pay taxes to enjoy the level of lifestyle we have become accustomed to in the West. Yes, there is tons of wastage and corruption, but you need to pay your taxes or else you can expect to have no roads, running water, sewage, police, and so many other things that you obviously take for granted.

Do you really think this is where our income taxes are going?? To roads and hospitals?? Um no. It's going to the Fed to pay off the interest from bailing out the banks that are screwing everyone in the first place. It's really a joke, but no one seems to notice or care.

Granted, a good portion is going to the military, but I wouldn't exactly call it homeland DEFENSE. It's really more like foreign land OFFENSE.

Originally posted by Reflection

Originally posted by nightbringr
reply to post by CholmondleyWarner

 

Do you think bridges, roads, sewage, hospitals and policing, as well as homeland defense is free?

You NEED to pay taxes to enjoy the level of lifestyle we have become accustomed to in the West. Yes, there is tons of wastage and corruption, but you need to pay your taxes or else you can expect to have no roads, running water, sewage, police, and so many other things that you obviously take for granted.

Do you really think this is where our income taxes are going?? To roads and hospitals?? Um no. It's going to the Fed to pay off the interest from bailing out the banks that are screwing everyone in the first place. It's really a joke, but no one seems to notice or care.

Granted, a good portion is going to the military, but I wouldn't exactly call it homeland DEFENSE. It's really more like foreign land OFFENSE.

edit on 14-2-2011 by Reflection because: (no reason given)

The worst thing is that if the banks went and screwed us all again and took our money with no explanation our governments would do it all again and hand over the public purse! It always amazes me that if I mess up my accounts and find myself unable to pay my mortgage the bank managers would laugh at me if I asked for money to get me out of my financial mess. Imagine what they would do if I also said that I did not intend to pay it back!!! But this is what they did...
Its not a nice feeling to sit at home wondering how you're going to put food on your childrens plates... The fact that you lost your job because some greedy elitist banker got it wrong does not make the anger subside. Its made worse when you find out same banker has just been given a multi million pound bonus for messing up... Shouldn't that bonus money go back to us first?

I feel like having to do things that do not advance our knowledge is rather pointless.

reply to post by jigowatts


Jigowatts,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! That video has inspired me. This almost correlates with the theory of changing your future by changing your past. INCREDIBLE VIDEO, and thank you again for sharing!!!

---GeminiSky

Originally posted by Golden Boy
So yes, company owners make huge amounts of money. They're raking it in hand over fist, because they buy labor cheap and sell the end product high.

The end result, of course, is that those at the bottom of the totem pole make just enough to get by, while those at the top make enough to afford their own luxury airliners. So yeah, people in the middle class are usually stuck right where they are, unless they take it upon themselves to improve their skill set; but this isn't because the company executives are sitting in their offices twirling their mustaches and saying "cut the workers' pay another ten cents, myah!". It's just the way economics works.

I am sorry but there is no excuse in the universe why board of directors should make several million dollars each in basic pay plus options, while minimum wage employees and middle management make enough to just get by.

It makes zero sense other than greed....."I am god and will get away with it" superiority complex!

Of course work is natural - what else would you do between paychecks?

. . .and what would you have to complain about?

Originally posted by GeminiSky
Hey guys,

Ive been feeling this more and more often and I just have to share my thoughts.

I am currently 24. Ever since I entered the workforce at 18, I have got bogged down in the corporate grind. Sales is my career and I've sold everything from car warranties to home loans to actual homes as a Realtor, and I must say I am quite good at what I do as a sales person.

However, I have been getting these intense thoughts that working for a living is NOT NATURAL and not how god intended us to live as human beings on this planet. But I digress.....

I understand that in the past man had to find food, build shelter, fend off enemies, etc.. to ensure his family's survival.

Now learn to make, manufacture, or obtain and combine those with the sales skills and be your own man. If sales FEELS unnatural than it is. Use it later when you are selling YOUR product or service.

And one may argue that in today's modern world, working in exchange for money so that an individual can secure shelter and food is the same thing, but I just can help feeling that this isnt how we were meant to live.

I recently started a new sales job, and while the pay is good, the hours are inhumane... most days we work from 9am to 9pm and only get 30 min for lunch! While observing my new found co-workers, I noticed that they have all become complacent, and dont even go out for lunch, they just sit in their cubicles munching on unhealthy junk food.

How in the world am I supposed to live my life when I get home late, only have a few hours for myself to eat, wash up, and before I know it Im falling asleep only to repeat the process all over again the next day.

Today I read a point of view about working from a poster on GLP, this is what he wrote:

How often does it happen. Someone gets a job at a factory etc and they are excited that they have a job. They slowly become stagnant about finding a better job. The Monday after xmas they wake up for work. Their birthday they work. Halloween they work. Best friends wedding cant afford, gotta work. Daughters birth, missed it had to work. No walking along the top of a mountain looking down the beautiful landscapes. Meeting people at a bar at midnight in another country.

No going to the big rock concert in the big city. No late night walks through the countryside on a summer night gettin high with a friend/friends. Life spent at work. Every day. Gotta work work work. We all think we're special. Are we special after 30 years of working at some factory that makes spark plugs. I want to be free. I'm 29 years old and im sick of working my ass off just to afford food apt and a car and 1 coat and a few outfits. I'm starting to get paranoid thoughts that I will never get to meet strangers and have a blast in Europe at midnite.

I wont get to walk on the top of a mountain with my wife in Tibet. I wont get to peacefully relax in New Zealand. Or hang out at a coffee shop in the Netherlands. it's wake up Monday morning and time for work. And it doesnt stop until you're old and frail with wasted vitality.

Source

Now, even though I feel that some of my opinions may differ from this posters, I truly sympathized with him as a fellow human being in regards to his feelings of hopelessness and being stuck in a job. We all become comfortable and complacent at times and just dont want to risk the security of a current job in order to find something better.

Keep in mind this is not always the case, and I make a good living doing sales...however it just does not feel NORMAL!

To top it off I had been gradually sucked into materialism, I had a brand new sports car that lost its appeal the next month when something new came out, the new cell phone that suddenly became annoying once I read about a newer shinier one that came out, and now Im glad to say that I have COMPLETELY did a 180 and have become the most NON materialistic person ever. --- This is why ive started having these negative thoughts about work and how it controls our entire lives!

I want to put a reply I made further down in the thread right here because it also pertains to this OP:
******************************************************************************************************************************
I am NOT looking for an EXCUSE not to work! I am simply stating the the way the work is structured in today's world feels inhumane and un-natural.

And its not all about how much you make! I personally know someone who manages an entire Wells Fargo branch and makes roughly 350k net income per yr.

He gets up at 5 AM and gets home at 11 PM. This person also works Saturdays and every other Sunday too. HE HAS NO TIME to spend his money, and in fact drives a regular mid range Toyota, does not buy expensive things or live in an expensive house.

But my point is, no matter how much you make, you will still be dedicating 1/2 of your life to work, another 1/4 to sleep, and 1/4 is left for EVERYTHING else which includes errands, traffic, getting to and from work.

By the time you are 65 yrs old, you have only really LIVED for about 5 years, in which you could do what YOU WANTED to do.

************************************************************************************************************************************

Seriously guys, I just dont feel human having to work for a living so that I can afford food, housing, a car and clothes. I feel that if instead of that I was forced to hunt, construct shelter, and defend my family that I would do this gladly and not feel as if I was "working" for a living.

Thoughts?

---GeminiSky

edit on 11-2-2011 by GeminiSky because: Added additional content to summarize my thoughts.

Originally posted by EarthCitizen07
I am sorry but there is no excuse in the universe why board of directors should make several million dollars each in basic pay plus options, while minimum wage employees and middle management make enough to just get by.

It makes zero sense other than greed....."I am god and will get away with it" superiority complex!

A note: the following is not meant as an insult towards anyone (it is blunt and to the point, but not meant to be offensive), or as a defense of corrupt executive practices. The following assumes that there is no corruption in any of the systems being discussed; corrupt executives are another matter entirely, and can (and should) be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The underlined is the key point. Human interactions in a free market are entirely motivated by greed.

What do you want? You want the best product for the lowest price. That's greed. Everything, everything, in economics comes down to this one simple principle. People are greedy. You want more for less. I want more for less. Every single person on this planet wants more for less.

That's why demand decreases as price increases, even as supply increases. That's why you won't buy a candy bar for $2.50 when you can get the same one for $0.75 at another store. That's why you go bargain-hunting. That's why you work, and why you spend. Because you want things. Be they food, or shelter, or your own personal jet, you want things.

Business executives have the exact same desire. They want to get as much as possible for as little as possible. They want to maximize profit while minimizing overhead. But what they are selling is in higher demand than your labor, so they can charge a higher price.

Why do people buying and selling cheap products get exempted from your rant? Is their behavior any different from the corporate executives'? No. Both of them are trying to get the exact same thing: money. Both of them are selling products in order to get it. It isn't the business executives' fault that the product most workers are offering has an infinite supply and a finite demand.

If you're going to rail against the unfairness of business executives having a higher salary than you do, you have to attack the free market economy as a whole. The entirety of capitalism is based around the laws of supply and demand, around the principle of competition. If you demand that corporate executives receive no more than you do despite the fact that there is a higher demand and a lower supply for their offered product, then go live in a communist country.

That's the way that capitalism works. You can either deal with it and realize that, in its own red-in-tooth-and-claw way, it's entirely fair, or you can leave the market.

reply to post by GeminiSky


I used to believe that work was so abnormal that I told my family I was going to make a lot of money and commit myself to other things. So (for real) I made a million dollars (the dream, right?). What's money for? For spending. I spent it all in about 4-5 years and had the best time. Having a lot of money, you get a little lost, the people around you even get more lost and they change. You are no longer who you used to be to them. Not that you changed, but they now see you as the solution to their money problems. People come out of the woodwork, especially to take/destroy what you have. Mo money, mo problems. It's really not worth it, really. Without work, it's really kind of boring. You can only hang with people that also have money, no one else can afford to leave their lives while you, say, buy 2 motor coaches, a Porsche, an arsenal, 2 luxury SUV's, etc and hit the road. Yes, that's what I did. I would do it all over again too, even though it's gone. What did you want it for in the first place? I make sense of the need to work it Biblical terms that the earth is cursed, but was not always this way. If we didn't work, our bodies would shrivel, we'd become isolated or taken advantage of. Work is goof, but not too much. I work now to keep busy and survive, not to earn money. Been there and done that. the fantasy is more powerful and exciting then the real thing. A lot like Christmas Eve, is better than Christmas, at least for me.

reply to post by EarthCitizen07


Watch the movie "Click" with Adam Sandler, to get perspective. It's not just a comedy. If you don't cry then you're not human. Changed my life.

reply to post by GeminiSky


I TOTALLY AGREE!

I was working as a clerk in a warehouse office in mid-2008 and I was being groomed to become a supervisor. I won't go into details, but I was coerced out of my job by my coworkers, and I subsequently "resigned my post" (as THEY had put it). It took me a while to adjust to the fact that I got shafted and the people I thought respected me had betrayed me. But I digress. It wasn't until July of last year that I decided to start working again and that's only because I needed some start up capital to start a business.

During that time, I had the same epiphany that you did. Working has lost all of its humanist characteristics. The amount of time out of our days or weeks (approx. 68% of the week - that's right: I did the math) is spent on work, or the logistics of work (i.e. the commute, getting ready before your shift, making lunch, etc). We hardly have time for our families. Sure we have the weekend, but IMO, most of that time is spent shopping for food and stuff to keep us ready for work.

This guy makes excellent points on work-life balance, but IMO, mucks it up at the end and toes the corporate line.
www.youtube.com...

It was work-life balance that was one of the factors in my decision to quit this last job in mid-january this year. Now I'm trying to get into freelance writing or something a little more nurturing to my soul.

But the bottom line is, working is playing too big of a role in our lives. There has to be a balance where we all can win, and the drive for higher profits, isn't EVERYONE'S motivation.

Originally posted by sumgai
the drive for higher profits, isn't EVERYONE'S motivation.

Not necessarily profits, no, but want quite definitely is the majority motivator.

There are definitely some people out there who differ, but I don't think anyone would argue that the vast majority of humans are concerned with material needs and wants. "Profit" is just one of these.

There are quite definitely people out there who want nothing, though. "Enlightened" Buddhists, for example. They are a very small minority, though.