Recent history has taught that lying, cheating, stealing and then bribing lawmakers is what leads to a better life. And a small loan of $35million from your dad.

Well, yeah.

Maybe if you own the business and keep a big chunk of the profits. But for the standard "you get a salary" job? Yeah you're being robbed. That's capitalism.

"A worker pulls into the parking lot at work, and the boss pulls in right after in a new sports car. The worker says, 'wow what a car! How did you get it?'

The boss says, 'Tell you what. You work hard this quarter, hit all your numbers, put in some overtime, and I can buy a new one next quarter.'"

I worked hard and my bosses noticed so I got rewarded with more work. I took pride in it at the time but eventually burned out hard and when I changed jobs they didn't even do an exit interview with me. I'm embarrassed by how much of a sucker I was.

The fact that the Hawk Tuah girl made bank on a crypto scam is a great example of why this is the case.

The scam isn't 'hard work'

The scam is the 'a job gives you(r life) purpose' narrative.

Nope, times a thousand. Meaningful relationships, having realistic (but still challenging) goals, self-expression, responsibility for the well-being of others and engaging in meaningful initiatives, among many others, do.

If a days wages isn’t enough to get room & board for the night, then what the hell are we working for?

Hard work for its own sake or for self-fulfilment is not a scam and can be very rewarding. Hard work as a means to escape systemic inequality and poverty cycles absolutely is.

Hard work will let you survive. It won't get you a good life. A good life is mostly done by luck and happenstance.

Someone actually just posted this to a German sub https://feddit.org/post/15034301

It says that 75% of billionaires have inherited their wealth

Wage labor itself is founded on unpaid surplus labor with the express purpose of valorizing capital. The increased intensity never works its way to your pockets.