Actually, debt is baked in. Do you know that every US dollar is existence is owed back to the Federal Reserve? If there were no debt, there would be no money. So yes, some people can live debt free. But that's only possible if someone else is taking on the debt. Under our current monetary system debt will only increase. It is physically impossible for most people to live debt free.

Interesting. I read an article recently about how there are no good men is Seattle. Basically, all the new tech workers who have moved there are douchebags and the women don't want to date them. It seems your guys may need to step up their game, ask women about themselves, listen to the answers and not just talk about work all the time.

They're paying you too much, because you suck at this.

Fired for what now? Many states are "at will" states, meaning the employee is there at the will of themselves and their employer. If either party decides they don't like the arrangement, they can terminate the employment. So you can be fired because they just don't want you working there anymore. They didn't say it was for working only 40 hours, or because you're gay, or really what it was for. So good luck gathering evidence that you were fired for working only 40 hours, or because you got pregnant or whatever. The evidence doesn't exist. Besides, where is your unemployed ass getting the money for a lawyer? Suing isn't free, you know. You have to pay lawyers, and maybe you'll get it repaid on the back end if you happen to win. But even then you usually need to foot the bill yourself until such time comes, if it does.

That's how they force you.

It's because there is a massive power imbalance between the employer and employee. Generally speaking, the employee needs a job more than the employer needs the employee. The employer probably has hundreds of applications for a given position, while the prospective employee is struggling to get interviews, let alone offers.

Price competition does not work in the same way as salary competition, because the actors are on different sides of the equation. If shop A is asking too much for a good or service, I can easily go to shop B to see if it is cheaper there because I am the purchaser. If shop A wants my business they need to either lower their prices or add value to their offering to justify the higher price. In the salary competition scenario, the employee is like the shop. He is selling his labor to the employer. So the employer is the one who can shop around, and the employee has to either lower his wages or add value to justify higher wages. The difference between the two scenarios is the power imbalance. There is not a huge power imbalance in the price competition scenario like there is in the salary competition scenario.

Am I to understand that your personal experience negates the value of collective bargaining in general?

That was my thought exactly. The point of modern advertising is that it works on your subconscious. You don't realize it is influencing you; that's why it works.

What are the rules when you have authorized the use of force against enemy combatants? I know we have rules for war against the country we are at war with. But since we're not at war, having never declared it, what are the rules for an authorized use of force? Maybe we need a new Geneva Convention around the rules for using the military against individuals that live in countries that are not strong enough to retaliate.