The Scam of the Century! Your job is killing you.

The modern world tells us to be free and to live our lives as best as we can. To do that, we need time. On the other hand, the same world forces us to find a job, because "work is noble, and one’s job performance helps the entire community grow and reach ever higher goals." For this reason, politicians ask us to spend eight hours a day, five days a week, twelve months a year, for 40 years of our lives (the best years we have) contributing to the growth of the community. I have two questions: "How can one be free if we have to work?" and "Have you happened to see this 'growth' anywhere?" Because all I hear is news of recession, crisis, and zero growth.

Let’s look at reality for what it is: work is the greatest scam in existence. Over the centuries, the world has created a very sophisticated and devious system to put the world in chains in order to control and exploit it.

History.

The Golden Age (Prehistory and the Gift).

Let’s start from the beginning. In the beginning, humanity was organized into small communities. Those microscopic prehistoric groups (compared to today’s great metropolises) produced for the group's survival, living in harmony with nature, using the tools they had—namely, their hands. There was no "mine" or "yours" in the strict sense: they produced for everyone. Everything ran smoothly and, despite the fatigue, the rules were natural. If there was food, everyone ate; if there wasn’t, everyone fasted.

The Surplus and the Birth of Power.

Over time, man became clever; he understood and invented tools to increase production. That talent and new techniques led some men to produce more than was needed for immediate survival. In that moment, man had solved the problem of hunger. Producing more meant everyone had a full stomach. Here, the fateful question was born: "What do I do with this extra meat or grain? Do I throw it away?" The answer to that question triggered two changes: barter and the creation of hierarchy. Exchanging that excess for something one didn't have provided the opportunity to obtain wealth and power, which were used to gain prestige and trust from the group.

In that moment, the first two social classes were created: the rich, who could exchange their resources to obtain wealth, and the poor, who often went to the rich just to survive. While the poor remained equal in their misery, wars broke out among the rich for the control of resources and territory, because man always wants more. In these wars, the strongest among the rich dominated the weakest among the rich, and that is how rulers and aristocrats were born.

With this division, the rulers owned vast lands, and therefore vast wealth. With that power, they began to exercise total control over the population. On one hand, they promised well-being, infrastructure, and protection; but on the other, they forced those beneath them to pay a toll to sustain those promises. In short: a rich man promised, the people paid, while the rich continued to make money through trade.

Anyone who produced had to give part of their production to the reigning monarch. Those who couldn't produce decided to work directly for the ruler, paying that toll and surviving.

Behold the concept of taxes. Not only would we work hard for a master, but we had to give a portion of the earnings to the rulers (the State) who lived off the people's backs. It was and still is a diabolical system where we are punished for our suffering to keep alive a ruling class that prospers on our sweat, promising things that don't exist. Work is not freedom; it is the most refined form of slavery ever conceived, masked as a choice.

From Barter to the Deception of Currency.

Until this point, trade was always based on the exchange of surplus: "I have extra grain, you have extra wood, shall we swap?" But barter was complicated and subjective. Depending on where you went and who you talked to, the conditions changed. If one village asked for five pears for a kilo of grain, the next one asked for eight.

This uncertainty also affected the rulers, who struggled to calculate how much they could squeeze out of their subjects because expenses were not stable. They asked themselves: "Can we standardize trade?"

The rulers' answer was the introduction of a circle of gold or silver: the coin. Every good would have a fixed value in coins. Thus, modern economy was born, where the value of something is decided from above.

Here comes the fun part: in theory, if you owned gold, you could have minted your own currency. But if that were possible, the rulers would have had no power. No one would have had to work or produce anymore. It was enough to just have gold and everyone would be happy and content. The powerful could not allow this. So, they imposed a rule: "You can only use the coins that we authorize and distribute."

To obtain those coins, citizens had only two paths: either produce resources to sell to the State, or work directly for those who already had the coins.

This was the point of no return: instead of rebelling against this madness and toppling the power, humanity accepted it out of fear, locking itself in a cage.

The Modern Era: Work as Subtle Slavery.

That moment of surrender to power was the beginning of the end. With the advent of banks—which eventually went from mere money deposits to structures more powerful than the State itself—and the industrial means of production, the trap snapped shut. Banks took the citizens' money to make more money through interest-bearing loans, and those who owned the means could earn a fortune. All while the State controlled how much currency could be distributed.

Insult was added to injury. Power protected those with the means, forcing workers to die in factories for jobs that were all duties and no rights. When workers rebelled, the rich understood that a man without hope is a dangerous man. So, they invented the "salary" and labor rights: give enough money to live and some rights, but not enough to be free. The worker must return every morning, day after day, to fatten the master who grows large in the shadows. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the concept of modern work, where rights are fake and the money is too little to ever be free.

To recap: the ruling class (entrepreneurs and politicians) has imprisoned the people in work to become rich while the worker suffers. It seems there is no way out. Yet, a way to escape exists.

You just need to take work for what it is and act accordingly. If you have this mentality, you obtain much more than you could imagine.

Professionalism.

The first great short circuit happens right at the beginning. For the entrepreneur, employees are property to be used as they please, thinking that once inside that company, the worker will be there forever. For the employee (like you and me), the world of work must be a simple exchange. I need money—money that power invented to imprison me—while those with the means need people to make money. The logic is very clear: I give what the entrepreneur needs, and that entrepreneur gives me what I need. The employment contract is nothing more than that: a monthly pay for one's performance and skills.

Every worker is a professional. This means the worker stays only if the interests of the worker and the employer coincide. The fact that you sign a permanent contract means absolutely nothing. It sounds funny to say, but one should look at professional sports: if the athlete and the team are doing well, they work together; otherwise, they go their separate ways.

The real obstacle is the "permanent" contract. The obstacle is this: with a contract for life, I am stable and have no worries, accepting my place in prison. But that contract is not a marriage proposal; it is a commercial agreement. If the supplier (you) finds a better client, or if the client (the company) stops paying the fair value, the agreement ends. Period. In my life, I have signed several permanent contracts in Germany, yet after a short time, I always left. If a company is no longer what it was, or doesn't guarantee what is the best offer for us, you pack up and go. No hard feelings! End of story.

In the world of work, there is no loyalty, no guilt, no remorse. Companies use this weapon to make those who want to leave feel guilty, but you must always keep this detail in mind: just as the bosses are heartless, we must be too.

Don’t Get Scammed.

Work only functions if there are people working and making society run. Without workers, there would be no entrepreneurs. So, one might think the entrepreneur is almost "forced" to hire, otherwise they go bankrupt. In truth, it is exactly the opposite. The more an entrepreneur hires, the less money they make. The boss's goal is to not hire, or to hire as little as possible. If the entrepreneur hires a new person, it means the boss has to spend 30,000 euros gross or more for that new hire. That’s 30,000 euros the boss cannot use to maintain a life of luxury.

However, the workload will always increase because a corporation is a creature that wants to eat more and more. It goes without saying that when there is extra work to be done, no one will be hired; instead, the work will be dumped on the employees already present.

As a worker, do not panic. This is not your family and you owe nothing to a stranger who simply pays you. When the boss arrives with something extra to do, the questions to ask are: "Is this within my contractual duties?" and "Do I have to stay beyond my working hours?" If you hear even one "yes" as an answer, your response must be "no." You are not obligated to take on additional work, and you are not obligated to stay past your hours. It is not in your duties. If they fire you, you go to court and squeeze money out of the company that let you go.

Loneliness.

There is often talk of "teams," but the world of work is a world where you are alone.

In that place of torture, you will have to fend for yourself. No one will help you, no one will support you, and no one will do anything for nothing. A favor in the world of work is a sentence.

When you enter the office and sit at your desk, all those people around you—smiling and greeting you with kindness—will be the first to stab you in the back or take advantage of you at the first possible opportunity. The goal is to never show your flank. Keep your guard up.

As soon as a colleague arrives and asks for anything, you reply that "you don't know." In the office, omertà is your most precious ally. You haven't seen anything, you haven't heard anything, and no one told you anything. You answer only to the boss; to your colleagues, you must be the "village idiot." It sounds like a bad thing, but it isn't. Being considered the village idiot by colleagues is not a defeat; it’s a shield. If they don't know what you can do, they can't ask you to do it for free.

This will make you unreliable, allowing you to clock in on time, ensuring no one asks you for anything, and letting you go home on time. Your private time is sacred, and you must protect it at all costs.

Sure, they won't ask you to participate in this or that corporate activity, and they won't even consider you for a promotion, but what do we care? We work to have a life, and those people certainly aren't part of that life. A career would be the grave of your life.

Use the Weapons of the Powerful.

As history tells us, the world will pay you enough to have a life, but not enough to be free. Furthermore, the taxes you pay will be extremely high, often forcing you to work much longer than you should.

It is true that in modern society everyone pays taxes, even the powerful. That is the official version. The reality of the facts is quite different. In reality, politicians and entrepreneurs don't actually pay taxes. Why? Not because they hide capital—well, they used to, but then they got smart because over the years laws have been voted in that allow the rich not to pay.

It looks like a "caste game," a game the world hates, but it’s not quite like that. It would be a caste game if only one group of people had those tax benefits. To ensure the world doesn't suspect anything and doesn't cry scandal, the law must be universal—meaning applicable to everyone.

What does this mean? It means those weapons the powerful use to avoid spending a cent in taxes are there for you too, ready to be used! Does the master give you little? Fine—you have all those same laws the entrepreneur uses to evade the taxman. Evade it yourself! If he exploits you, exploit him back!

Use Them.

When you sign a contract, the company expects loyalty. The entrepreneur expects you to use everything you have to pay for his luxury car, while the politician expects you to pay for their lifestyle with your taxes, sweating and sacrificing everything.

A distinction must be made here: there are the weak and the strong. Not from a physical point of view. The weak stay in a company and play the game for their entire lives.

But we are not the weak. We are the ones who know the game. You have 24 hours of time. Let’s use them. 8 for sleeping, ten for working (8 of work plus two for commuting). Let’s spend the other hours creating something that we can say belongs to us and us alone.

Use work to take the money. Use that terrible workplace to grow your capital. But do not spend energy. Do the absolute minimum, just enough not to lose your job. Use that money to fund what you have in mind. Use the energy you don't use at work for what you want to achieve. If you are clever and work hard, you will not fail. One day, you will tell everyone to go to hell, and you will shine with your own light.

When you have your own business, at that point you unlock the "premium version" of the working world—a mystic place where you only earn and don't pay taxes, given that you can legally evade them, with laws to protect you. I know some might say, "Eh, but that’s not true! There are many entrepreneurs who struggle to make ends meet." True, but they chose a field where people fail. We are smart, and we look for something that lets us buy a Ferrari, not end up under a bridge... or worse, going back to a job.

Final Thoughts.

We must stop looking at work through the eyes of our fathers' generation. It is not an identity, it is not a family, and it is not a moral mission. Work is a means of financing for your real life.

If the system is a trap designed to keep you tired and dependent, your only form of rebellion is cynical efficiency. You must stop giving your soul to someone who doesn’t deserve it. The soul is not included in the national collective bargaining agreement.

Constantly seeking approval from strangers is a colossal waste of time and energy. No one cares who you are or what you do. The only approval that matters is that of your bank account at the end of the month.

The world of work offers no growth. That growth that is flaunted doesn't exist. It’s like believing in God. The only real growth is that of your skills and your personal freedom outside those four walls.

Look at your office or your factory for what they are: an ATM that requires eight hours of your time in exchange for watermarked paper. Take that paper, use it to build your escape plan, and don't look back.

Power counts on your fear and your exhaustion. But a man who works the bare minimum to fuel his own dreams instead of his boss's is a man the system can no longer control. He is a man who has already started to win.

Don’t work to live. Use work to set yourself free.

M.