Why You Are Poor: The Modern Wage Slavery Cycle

Ever wonder why you can't seem to keep your money?

You work day in and day out, you try to live within your means... but when you're doing your taxes, you see that number... "Gross Income". I made that much last year? Where did it all go?

In this video I delve into the cycle I call the Wage Slavery Cycle. It's a stealthy yet vicious pattern I have seen many friends and loved ones go through, without even knowing it.

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The Wage Slavery Cycle is essentially a cycle of slow-built frustration, boredom, or unhappiness due to being trapped in a job that you do not enjoy.

Although your job may seem enjoyable for the time-being, many people are not aware of their long-term emotional cycles. One month you may feel fine, or actually enjoy your job... but fast forward 6 months and you may be in a state of longing.

This state of longing causes people to spend their hard-earned money on toys, vacations, cars, nicer living arrangements, etc.

Depending on the amount that you make, and the amount of frustration/boredom/unhappiness you encounter, these expenses can be devastating to your long-term freedom.

The real irony comes into play when you fully zoom out, and see that these short term mood-boosters are actually keeping you dependent on that job.

It's like a drug addict taking a hit to feel good. The more they use their drug of choice, the more dependent they are on it. True happiness comes from freedom to do things we enjoy, which for most people is a daunting task to pursue without a strong plan.

If you take anything away from this video, I hope you realize that achieving financial freedom in your life isn't as difficult as people make it out to be. Whether you choose the FIRE plan, or build up a side business out of a passion of yours, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you form a plan, and begin executing. This will separate you from the majority of the population - who blindly work their jobs and spend what they "think" they can afford, aka whatever their emotions feel is necessary.

Form a plan, execute it, and escape the Wage Slavery Cycle.

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Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

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Copyright © Braden Parkes 2020

[sfiqfll]

8 hours for leisure? Driving to the job then home, making meals for the job and dinner, taking care of bills, going groceries, cleaning clothes. Not 8 hours of leisure fam. More like 4 or 5. That's all that's yours, and even then you wont really enjoy much because you're tired.

[locksand]

The life of a hunter-gatherer is a life lived for life itself. The life of a modern civilized person is a life lived for distractions to make you forget what you are spending your days doing.

[gabrielguyenot]

The most nefarious thing about this wage-slave system is how society gaslights anyone who calls it out. People will say "well, you don't have to work. You can choose what job you want". The 'freedom to choose' is the freedom to be tax slaves that spend our best years working under the 40-hour work schedule to barely afford basic necessities, or starvation. In short abide by our system, our rules, and orient your time around our schedule, or die.

All this technological advancement and an abundance of material things blind people. We have the technology to do less work, but are working even more because one worker is now more 'productive' than in the past. We have an abundance of food (most of it is poisoned with seed oils and crappy ingredients) however, inflation becomes a thing.

In short, while the quality of our lives has increased prior to 100 years ago, let's not kid ourselves. We are slaves adorned with golden chains, told that we should be grateful for the opportunity to spend most of our time on this earth working for basic necessities like food and shelter while making a few people grotesquely rich.

[jakethesnakestoner]

Dude misses the sleep part. So actually the majority of your conscious hours as an adult are spent in preparation for, commuting to or being at work. That’s not living. That’s slavery.

[alexdetrojan]

Well, it's three years later, and things have become unimaginably worse. Time to update this video to accurately portray the dystopia we're living in...

[abbysmith]

For those of us who recognize and see the conditions of slavery that modern work keeps us bound to, the moment we speak of it out loud, there is a quick dash by many loud voices to make fun of the very real cruelty and death that we all are forced to live in. We are immediately told by many loud voices that we are weak for seeing our prisons, and that we are lazy for wanting to do something meaningful and productive with our lives rather than squander it all in oppressive low wage servitude. The first step to freeing ourselves is to be fully aware of the very real conditions of slavery we live in and to utterly turn from those voices who are quick to deprecate us when we tell the truth.

[hennijpw]

Its depends where you live. Im living in US, no smoke no tattoo, no junk foods, no tv, no resto. I cook everyday. I work 40hr a week but still strugle to pay bills. Everything is cost money. Cost of living in US is crazy

[dvoob]

I think its important to live life fully. Skimp on disposable material purchases, but never skip out on experiences. Obviously don't go spending $3k on seminars, but take that road trip, go to that festival, take her out on that date. You could just as easily die at 35 as you could at 60. It doesn't matter when you retire if you don't get to experience life.

[wperkins]

The average America family does not have $7, 000, in savings, much less $7, 000 in retirement!

[janneroppola_supersigma]

8 hours of work + commute + getting your mind to transition back to your "own" life equals to about 10 hours a day.
And then you have close to zero energy left to do anything meaningful.
If you give all of your brain power to a corporation, you pretty much give them 24 hours of your day - which means you are giving away your life.

[MrUnknownuser]

I personally advocate living at home for as long as possible. That may seem really lame at first, but keep in mind that this was how it was for a while. The idea of living in single family households (which also coincides with the introduction of the 40 hour workweek, hardly a coincidence) was just a side effect of the artificially prosperous post-war economy. I will admit that I do have an immigrant background, but I still believe in this. It may suck to live at home, but at least you keep the money that you make. The idea of getting money just to blow it on housing seems ridiculous to me.

[fluffymagoo]

Going through your bank statement is a huge game changer. A few years ago I did it and It was very humbling and actually quite embarrasing to see where I was wasting my money. I spent over $2400 at MacDonalds + a litte over $1000 at other FastFood/Coffe Shops....in one year! I would stop there almost everyday either on the way to work, or coming home. Major eye opener for me and now I have been to Macdonalds maybe 3-4 times since then.

[Red-Revolution]

The minimum wage has gone up £3 in 27 years, even if your working your living in poverty .

[Schaufelor]

Damn, this motivated me to save even more and retire early. I see only one problem: If you want a wife and kids, this is hardly possible with any normal job.

[MrTehRave]

This video assumes far too much. Many people stuck in the wage slave cycle can only just pay their rent / mortgage and don't have anything left over for this "addiction". The issue is not so much their spending habits (or lack thereof) but the stagnation of wages, job advancement and rising inflation / cost of living.

I'm sure the consumer addiciton is an issue for many, but in terms of the "wage slave cycle", I think on the most part its another issue entirely.

[hunnybadger]

Ive known this since i was 13... My life looks like nothing from the outside... My struggles mean nothing to others... But i know my purpose my meaning why i exist.... I am a whole person with so little... I took being disabled, broken, useless by others standards and turned it into my own personal paradise... Im truly happy and free.... Because i am no longer afraid... Now im crippled on top of my initial disability and it's painful hard and exhausting but i still love my life.... I get to help people which is my passion because i have the time to do so..

[mileab]

Life like this absolutely sucks, all I do is work

[danielkammer]

I had to quit my job because i was working 12-14 hr days 6 days a week.the work was physical too.i walked out of the job due to my health.i know i did the right thing.i was miserable

[SgtJoeSmith]

I get paid $100 an hour to fix lawn mowers at Mower Barn. I don't have money problems and work 20 hours a week 9 months a year.

[ClassicJukeboxBand]

There is more too it than just addiction. The debt-based money system is designed to constantly extract money from the system so you can barely scrape by. Eventually, most of us will be working just to get enough food to eat. Shelter is already more expensive than the average person can afford. This is because of the fractional-reserve banking system that charges interest to borrow money from the private banking system which keep you working to pay off that interest...