For humans the notion of not competing and not contributing to a society is ironically the luxury of an advanced society.
For those that partake in this luxury of not having to produce yet enjoy the base goal of survival (and then some), there are other strings attached. Enjoying the luxury of knowing the check really is in the mail and sweat equity coming only in the form of tossing on a robe and hustling out to the mailbox is the dismissal of inane gifts from God. Not only do those gifts never evolve but other senses seem to dull from lack of use. In the end selling your soul has the physical impact of muscle and brain atrophy.
Becoming (Mindless) Robots
Selling your soul means you are indebted and from time to time will be called upon to perform tasks. For the most part these days it's mostly just going into the voting booth to keep your benefactors in power. The entire process is actually making people more like robots that replaced human counterparts in the movie Stepford Wives. These still-human dropouts have become programmed robots that go through the motions of life without really living. Our mindless kin live de facto by the same set of rules outlined by Isaac Asimov.
It's extraordinarily difficult to escape this scenario. We see this with the 4.7 million people stuck on unemployment payments 27 months or longer. We see it with the explosion of people on Social Security disability, which now stands at 8,830,026, up each month since January 1997. The overall pace has been the same but has quickened dramatically among men in the last four years. From 1997 to 2009 108,333 men moved onto disability, but since January 2009 that number has leaped to 150,000. This is a national tragedy since a large percentage of these men are able to work but say the mental stress of living in this economy makes it impossible.
Work Trends
There is a great report out of Rutgers titled:
Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great recession Era http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/content/Work_Trends_February_2013.pdf
When asked which of these do you think are major causes of high unemployment there were marked changes including greater acknowledgment that people simply don't want to work.
The trend in this nation is worrisome. We are looking at a European style nation where brand new wealth isn't created while older wealth is constantly attacked to the point where it's diminished along with the clout that comes with financial independence. This makes it difficult for those that refuse to sign onto the welfare state to have a voice or options.
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