Except your second paragraph doesn’t have to be the case at all.

If we limit ourselves to modernized economies, we could be very close to a post-scarcity civilization right now if we really wanted to. What does this mean? It means that only those people who wanted to work would work. That the vast majority wouldn’t have to work if they didn’t want to.

The point being: sufficient wealth is being created in modern economies to ensure that most anyone only needs a few short hours of “work” per week in order to live at much the same level as they are now.

Problem is, the vast majority of the labour that most people create is being stolen by employers. And via other rent-seeking processes, the rest of the Parasite Class at the top has also joined in with parasitizing off of most anyone under the Parasite Class level. Most workers get only pennies on the dollar as a wage for the labour they produce.

In fact, had the American minimum wage kept up with worker productivity since the late 70s, it would be over $25/hr by now. Where is that spread going? Straight into the offshore investment accounts of the rich and powerful, where it benefits absolutely no-one except for those Parasite Class members.

Remember the Jetson’s? That could have been our future, right now. Instead we have a crashing birth rate and plummeting marriage rate because even two university-educated people can’t make enough to afford to get married, much less own a house or have children.

Fifty years ago, a simple janitor could have a family, a house, and a car in the garage on his low-wage job. These days the best he’s likely to do is afford rent on a bachelor suite. Forget wife. Forget children. Forget a reliable place to live in. Those are all pipe dreams thanks to the rapacious greed of the Parasite Class.

Antiwork is all about fighting back and demanding a living wage, and importantly, _demanding what we’re worth._ To not put up with abusive and gaslighting employers who hand out starvation wages and expect us to be grovelling-on-the-floor grateful with that.

The irony being that, for DECADES, employers have justified shitty wages and shitty working conditions with the smug refrain, “just find a better job, then!”

As in, “take it or leave it, but we know you’re going to take it because we have your sorry, poverty-shackled ass over a barrel here.”

Well, the pandemic has given many people the opportunity to experience a mental reset such that they have been able to properly catch their breath and realistically assess their situation. And they have taken those employers sarcastic refrain and done exactly that - they have either gotten retooled for more lucrative careers or have gone into their own gig work.

Cue shocked Pikachu face for many shitty employers when government handouts came to an end and they STILL couldn’t find anyone to put up with their abusive employment conditions. Because any employer providing a supportive and healthy working environment along with a thriving wage has all the employees they need. The shitty employers are those complaining about “nobody wanting to work”.

I haven’t been in a low-end position for some time now, but I am certainly cheering these antiwork people on with all the gusto I can muster. Their successes will eventually improve my own employment situation. Maybe not right away, but it will trickle up.