In a town full of government workers for various branches of the government, I worked for every one except the county, and I coordinated with the county for one of the jobs. When trying to face injustice on my own terms and starting a business, I ended up contracting with a nonprofit and the government because no one was willing to pay me, seeing me instead as “entertainment” rather than a consultant. After most jobs started disappearing and everything was remote and AI work, I maintained some income with remote and AI work. I worked in fastfood, and ironically, the more hours I worked the “easier” it got. Most of these jobs did not reflect either my ideals or my intent in the world, but because I did not aspire to be a deadweight, I did them, and people judged me for doing them. For those people, and for many other jobs that people do to survive, morals require options, and the truth is that there are very few options available.
Throughout the business world, we are seeing a wide range of businesses being swallowed into each other by greedy organizations that think “infinite growth” is possible or sustainable. Consequently, there are fewer businesses, which is one of the reasons that jobs are disappearing. Starting a business requires capital (translation for the hopelessly delusional: money), so most of the businesses that people start are small and are facing immense competition. Monopolies take away choice and opportunity, so before berating rideshare and delivery drivers who work for a billionaire, ask why someone would be forced to either supplement their income or endure “stranger danger” just to pay bills.
Additionally, a consumption economy is driven by people with money, and in a world of inequality, visions are increasingly narrow. The “elites” have very odd tastes that are usually not supported by a mass market, and very few people are able to emulate that lifestyle. In the past, there was a robust middle class that had more discretionary income and could shape where business owners would receive the highest return on investment. Now, we essentially have a bunch of asshats from the segregated suburbs trying to shove a whole bunch of ideas down our throats because the only way to exert power now is to boycott. The truth is that a middle class is required to exist to provide real market insight for desirable business behaviors; otherwise, people are at the mercy of those who ignore others.
Morality is a tricky thing even in a world full of atheism, and I have met someone with no morals other than policing everyone else’s actions while holding nobody accountable. However, empires depend on mass action just to function, so the fewer opportunities exist, the more amoral a society will be. Dying jobs and a reduction in small businesses mean that people will do what we can to survive, which may not be good either for the planet or for us. I think that if people want a more grounded and stable society, the inequality will have to go. We have to have more than Amazon, Google, and other huge corporations to establish justice.
