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by Bessie Jewel (writer), Texas Hill Country, October 29, 2011

Our economic system has ceased to serve the population. Now, we are serving it. Sure smells like slavery to me!

At the risk of offending the ancestors of immigrants brought to The New World against their will, I want to talk briefly about shackles. Not the iron kind that hang heavily around the wrist and cut the skin at the ankles. I'm referring to the new-fangled kind, the invisible ones that slowly wind around your throat making it difficult to speak and sometimes even breathe.

They come disguised as security blankets in the form of 401Ks, paid vacations, and (shudder) health insurance. Those who enslave us like to remind us that we're damned lucky to have a job at all these days, so take what you get and shut up. Don't forget, you might fall sick one day. Young people have recently been thrown the bone of student loan debt forgiveness after twenty years instead of twenty-five. TWENTY YEARS!! Am I the only one who thinks this something akin to indentured servitude?

And those are the fortunate slaves. Should you choose a "service sector" job, i.e. a waitress, retail worker, hotel personnel, or are self-employed doing almost ANYTHING, you don't even get the security blanket - just the warning that goes along with it.

As things were explained to me as a child, I was under the impression that when it came to making living there were a number of choices to be made. Some professions bore a lot of time and worry but were generally well compensated. Others of a less stressful nature usually paid less, too. So, I could choose high pressure and lots of hours but plenty of jewels and cars and vacations along the way. Or, I could choose less pressure, more personal time and so, less money. Never, at any point was I told that my very LIFE would depend upon my choice of profession. It's a brave entrepreneur who'll gamble their life or the lives of their children because they think they just might have a better mousetrap.

So, it seems we've sold our collective selves for big-screen televisions and low mileage vehicles and the security of very insecure jobs. And by the way, don't forget to drop to your knees and thank God we still have them. Oh, and one more thing; all that great crap...well, there are heathens on the other side of the world who are really envious of it and want to take it all away and only the blood of our children will stop them.

Seems I've become a very cranky slave.

Read more articles on: slavery , immigrants , new world , government responsibility , security blankets , 20 year student loan forgiveness

Bessie Jewel is a writer for BrooWaha. For more information, visit the writer's website.