Mandatory Benefits Enforce Slavery

Freelance work is becoming a big deal in the U.S. for several reasons.  One reason is that the currently very poor economy (yeah, they claim it is improving, but really it is only getting better for the wealthy but no one else) is still making it extremely difficult to find decent work.  Right, you heard on TV that unemployment is decreasing, but did they bother to mention that most of the new jobs are low paying jobs?  Did they even point out that wages are staying stagnant while inflation is still increasing?  A lot of Americans are finding that freelance work is easier to get than permanent employment.  That is not the big driver of freelancing though.  Over half of freelancers are doing it entirely voluntarily.  They have chosen freelance work over long term full-time work because they like being their own boss.  They like setting their own hours.  They like the ability to choose what work they will do and what work they will leave to someone else.  Many even like the fact that they do not have to work a full 40 hours a week to get by.  Freelancing comes with a cost though: No benefits.

Aside from social pressure, wage slavery is primarily driven by mandatory benefits.  I know many people who would like to start their own businesses, but they cannot, because they cannot afford private health insurance.  Other benefits are a problem as well, but health insurance is, by far, the biggest problem.  I even know a few people who have their own businesses and work a regular job for the health insurance.  Businesses, like Lowe's, that offer these benefits even to part-time employees are a great blessing to business owners who cannot afford private health insurance.  (Years ago I worked at a Lowe's store, and at least two other employees there owned their own businesses, but worked 10 hours a week at Lowe's for the health insurance package.)  This is a problem, because it discourages freelance work and the creation of new businesses.  For the most part, only independently wealthy people can really even afford to start their own business, and I am not just talking about businesses with really expensive startup costs.  I have several computers, I have access to all of the tools I needed, I have all of the necessary knowledge and training, but I still cannot afford to start a software company, because I am stuck spending nearly all of my time working for someone else.  Even most middle class employees are stuck in this situation.

What is the solution?  Get rid of mandatory benefits.  In fact, ideally, all non-monetary compensation should be prohibited.  Someone still has to take responsibility for health insurance, because costs are still too high.  Obamacare made health insurance mandatory, but it did not solve the underlying problem, which is that it just plain costs too much.  At this point, a single payer system seems like the best option, and the retirement of Medicare and Medicaid would go a very long way in funding it (actually, if you add all the costs of the multiple Obamacare failures, it might make up the difference).  Further though, if there was still a deficit, another side effect of this would cover that and then a whole lot more.  The single most abused benefit is stock options.  Eliminate those and tax revenues (especially from CEOs and such) would increase dramatically.

Taking the burden of health insurance off of employment would release millions of Americans from wage slavery.  Of course, they still have to work to survive, but they would have much more control over that work.  Without employer provided health insurance, more people would be motivated to start new businesses, and more people would be willing to work for those businesses.  More people would be able to go the freelance route.  In addition, one more awesome benefit of this is that more people would feel free to choose part-time work instead of feeling compelled to work full-time, making more jobs available for others.  More Americans would be free to choose their own paths than ever before.

Now, I am sure you are aware that I endorse a basic income in addition to this, and a basic income would free Americans to a degree never before seen in all of human history (accepted history, anyhow).  Even without a basic income though, eliminating all non-monetary benefits would go a long way to increasing freedom in the U.S..  Of course, if stock options were eliminated, the increase in tax revenue would likely cover a large chunk of the costs of the basic income.  I just wanted to point that out.