Comment by eru
4 months ago
> The only way to escape wage slavery without being born wealthy is to be a business owner and have that business scale.
People working in finance or (in the year 2025) as AI researchers with fantastic signing bonuses for switching to Meta might want to disagree.
People working in finance aren't in a good place to disagree. They haven't escaped wage slavery, even if they technically have the ability to. The funny thing about really high paying jobs is that people tend to get so wrapped up in them they forget to free themselves from it.
Now, I mean you can work in finance for a bit, and if you play your cards right, you can retire young.
Yes, you can argue that while you are working, you are a slave to the wage. Maybe.
But don't tell me that when you retire with tens of millions in your thirties (if you play your cards right!), you are a slave any more.
> [...] that people tend to get so wrapped up in them they forget to free themselves from it.
Eh, how is that different from going into business by yourself?
> Eh, how is that different from going into business by yourself?
Pedantically, there is unlikely to be a wage. But even if we use the term loosely, the type of scalable business described usually do not make any money until it is sold, so you are effectively forced out as soon as it is possible.
A highly paid wage slave may technically be able to leave just as quickly, but in practice the golden handcuffs are often very strong. It is telling that the phrase used was "People working in finance" rather than "People who briefly worked in finance".
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They may be making a big salary but that’s not really what I mean.
A large salary is still a salary.
A business owner is unconstructed by the market value of their labor.