Antiwork

academic, i know, but important to know. “know your enemy”, and in this case the enemy is the field of macroeconomics and its dogmatic thinking. real economists, some of whom have radically rethought their professions following the 2008 economic crisis, have a paper out talking about wage repression – how the economic structure keeps wages down even in the face of increasing productivity. again, these aren't outsiders, these aren't upstarts – these are respected, established, tenured faculty looking askance at the field and revisiting their assumptions and finding them lacking. the paper: https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/Taylor-Memo-Wage-Repression-Caused-Macro-Inequality.pdf and a video from the authors going over the charts and findings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQtXU15NpTc it's important to know that this is real, that this isn't just made up, and it's big, structural, and catastrophic. unwinding it will be a long, hard slog. but knowing the forces of economics – which, by the way, are entirely constructed, even though…

I just started a new job towards the end of last year in the tech industry. The salary i am getting paid is pretty low, but I took the first job I got offered because I had been unemployed for awhile before I graduated and just needed a source of income and I didn't have any industry experience I just noticed that the state I live in raised the minimum salary threshold to 4,000 above what I am currently getting paid. I checked what the threshold for 2021 was actually 1,000 more than what I was offered. I am still in my probationary period and don't want to rock the boat too much. I was job/intern seeking for all of 2020 and I would rather have shitty pay than burn the current bridge I am on, but I'd also like to at least be meeting the minimum salary I am…

Yesterday I had a Zoom meeting for work for our whole team. The presentation was lead by my boss’s business coach. It didn’t sit right with me. The points that were driven home were bothersome. Such as: Small goals don’t matter and they mean nothing. And I’m sitting there silently seething with rage because I’m thinking to myself, ‘well what about those of us who struggle with our mental health? With chronic pain?’ Sometimes small goals are the only goals. And how you should always push yourself even harder even when you think you can’t go any farther. I get that, but I feel like it’s almost encouraging work related burnout which I don’t agree with. And the other thing was how you should always be honest with people even if it is harsh because respect is more important than being liked. Again, I don’t agree with this. In some…

I see the minimum wage of XX/hr as the wrong fight personally. it is a forever fight, by the time we get anything it is already too late and we need to start fighting for the new XX/hr and then we fatigue out and they win. I think we need official ruling on what minimum wage is for. We need legal definition of the intent of minimum wage. Something like – Minimum wage should keep 1 person living above the poverty line if they work 40 hours a week – Minimum wage should keep 1 family (a couple and 1 child) living above the poverty line if working 40 hours a week. ​ those are meant as examples but basically need a federal recognition of what minimum wage is. Then you just annually update it each year based on region or zipcode and what the poverty line is for that…

I can’t cope with my office job. I’m paid for 40 hours a week to do boring tedious work that I hate, and counting lunch breaks I’m in the office for 42.5 hours a week. My commute is 2 hours each way, so this takes my 42.5 hours up to 62.5 hours a week that are committed to work. I am exhausted by the time I get home and have neither the time or energy to do anything other than shower, eat quick processed food and sleep. I cannot keep doing this. I hate that this is my life. I am losing my mind and the will to live. How can I leave this lifestyle?