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Are we really free or are we now in 21st century workhouses?

we may think we are free to do what we want but most people are now tied into jobs asked to work 24/7 just to keep their head above water. There are now two types of people in this country the well off professionals who have second /third homes rented out as their pension fund which has caused all the house price problems for local people who cant afford to buy. Then there are the normall dare i say working class struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month, some with 2 jobs to survive no big payrises for us just bigger bills is this freedom ? This country is turning into one big warehouse for foreign goods and a nation of telephone data clerks/advisers Im in the UK but this probably applies in other countrys too

Public Comments

1. We are more free than people who are less free. The poor man's theory of relativity.
2. i definitely agree with you. as an aspiring teacher and college student, i see nothing but dead ends in my future. i can either stay a teacher my whole life, make around $40,000 doing what i love, or i can become a soul-sucking administrator and make $200,000 doing something i hate. our society doesn't give us a lot of freedom. it's up to the people to choose those freedoms for everyone, but the select (greedy) few will always choose money over the wellbeing of the majority. capitalism will always stick us in a loop of poverty vs. profit... the majority, unfortunately, will always lose.
3. When the majority of the populace get fed up with slaving day and night for nothing, things will change.
4. we will become a service industry!! i talk to a lot of younger lads who are temping with us on real crap rates of pay!! they dont see any future a head for them selves at all! no chance of the property market, and one poor lad couldn't even get a loan for 3 lousy grand to buy a car!! I'm so glad i'm not at these lads age, as i would have topped myself by now!! england land of hope(cope) glory(worry)...Good Q mate, my hat goes off to you.
5. yes Steve quite right and further to that the Brits don't seem to have guts anymore to tell the government to get the country back to as it was a few decades ago and chuck the riff raff out and do something about closing the gap between the rich and the poor working class and yes you were right to use the phrase as i have just done
6. You didn't mention the third type. the parasites who don't do any work, and just want to take all they can from society, and put nothing back!
7. Yes the gap between rich and poor has definately widened and will continue to do so. Control of the masses is the reason. This labour government is more Capitalist than the Tory party. So we no longer have a balance as we had when labour was socialist. The scene you paint is europe wide and will get worse
8. We are not free. My partner lost his job 3 weeks ago through no fault of his own (He took out a grievance against his ex boss for bullying, the company upheld his boss' side of things and asked my partner to leave). He's been trying to find a job for 3 weeks, in the job centre every day, firing off god knows how many CVs, interviewing etc and NOTHING! He even considered factory, cleaning or labouring work in the short term and has been told that all goes to East Europeans these days. Meanwhile we struggle to pay our mortgage, can't pay our bills, are having to borrow money to live on and are in danger of being repossessed (with a 7 month old baby to care for) He wants to retrain to up his chances of getting a job, but there is NO funding out there to retrain people as adults, only stupid "career development loans" which are loaned from the high street banks who automatically discount anyone with a less than perfect credit history (and we have mortgage arrears and defaults cause by our current circumstances! If you can't afford to pay to retrain how can you dig yourself out of poverty?!?!? What is the Government doing to help people like my partner who are perfectly willing to HELP THEMSELVES if someone just throws them a bone - ie helps them to retrain!? He's not asking for handouts, he wants to work for his living, he just needs a little support to do so! And even if you do get an education (like me - I have a degree) you still end up in a bloody call centre or teaching for £20,000 pa because there are not enough well paid jobs out there. No chance of buying a house. The greedy buy-to-let landleeches - sorry landlords - are laughing all the way to the bank. This country stinks. Capitalism my arse. It makes the rich and the well connected very rich and shits all over the less fortunate.
9. People work far too long for far too little money in my opinion. Back in c1808 the Australian Unions won the right to an eight our day. So how come people in UK who probably turn up their noses at the very idea of belonging to a Union, are working ten, twelve and even fifteen hour days? JOIN A UNION TODAY. You have rights, hard won and fought for by generations past. Your boss is just taking the piss. Kick him where it hurts most. Get the strength of the Unions behind you. Forward Comrades! UNITY IS STRENGTH UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!
10. It is the same in Canada - I have had the chance to talk with a number of British tourists and from the sound of it we are on par with you guys - Too bad I was thinking of moving back (after being here 200 years) and just saying that the whole colony thing wasn't working out as planned and so I came back - As we too are in the work house and in a class system that we are told we are not in - and taxed half to death - etc etc And so are you - my escape plan is dead in the water But as to your question ----Yes 21st century work house and the employer can watch us better than ever