40%
Earlier I got all riled up about yet another Putin-is-Hitler "news item" and wrote a HARSH little response. Almost immediately I realized what was happening, bopped myself upside the head, and deleted the item, but of course there's no such thing as deletion.

I try to avoid such "news" items; try to decouple, try to remember at all times that "news" is the opposite of information. "News" is either a deliberate attempt to stir reactions like mine, or more often it's just a sort of accidental side-squirt from actions that are rumbling quietly under the surface. Treating such side-squirts as information is akin to analyzing the performance of a car by noticing a rock caught in its tire treads.

Suitably chastised, this time I've found a "news" item that is genuine and surprising information, and runs close enough to my experience to make sense.

Headline: 40% of workers are now Contingent.

That's scary. It's a fast-moving trend. As business becomes pure numbers, employees are becoming rocks in the treads. Pick it up for a moment, use it for traction, throw it off just as unknowingly as you picked it up.

The serious and bad side of this trend: many of these contingent jobs are factory labor, the type of job that used to give a solid living to ordinary MEN.

I'm on the good end of this trend, so I can't complain. Independent contracting has served well because I need autonomy and creativity more than I need money. I've mastered the discipline of lean living and saving.

But even this good side is being popped out of the treads. The Chosen have already eliminated interest on savings and soon will be charging for savings. They have stolen three years of my planned retirement income, and soon will steal it all.

Labels: coot-proofing, STRONG!, the broken circle

  ¶ 3:32 PM