The history of the 20th century is characterized by governments and companies buying political and economic stability by protecting jobs. The present job crisis is really only one swing of the pendulum. Machines are more efficient that ever. The state has money for neither bread nor circuses. And financiers no longer invest in their own country but instead create jobs elsewhere, where labour costs are lower.
Employees here live precariously.
Only by striking off on their own can people assure themselves of subsistence and security. His Economics, mediated by the figure of Socrates, features the cynic Kritoboulos and the sympathetic Isomachos in a philosophical exchange. The title is very badly translated and quite dramatically misrepresents the subject. I'm always amused when people idealise the freedom I have as a self-employed worker. Sure, I'm free.