Isn't that illegal in Texas and Florida?

Just because people are useless they won't lie down and die quietly.

Twice so in a country that has more guns than people.

They have to phrase it that way. By naming an individual or company, it becomes a bill of attainder, at which point it becomes unconstitutional on its face (see Article I, Section 9). Of course, Congress, the Presidency (both parties), and SCOTUS seem to think that the Constitution is a piece of toilet paper these days...

I'll sign it without hesitation. Non-competes are illegal in my jurisdiction, and illegal clauses in contracts are void.

Startups around here get hoovered up including the former owners as "consultants". Basically that means you get money for doing nothing, at least as long as you don't try to start a competitor because guess what "consultation" is no longer needed should you try that...

C'mon. Please. When has the free market ever tied the hands of corporations? If that ever happens (and yes, there is indeed that nonzero chance that we're heading into an employer market, at least in some fields), rest assured that the game will be rigged some more in your disadvantage.

The only reason that corporations were fine with government letting "the market" sort it out was that until now, they had you by the balls. Let's wait what's gonna happen should this change.

Here's the thing, though: I am needed. But unfortunately, I'm one of the few.

But that's besides the point. What matters is that the replacement rate of young people vs. old people is only at about 80%. And that's not gonna change in the near future. For every 5 people leaving the workforce, only 4 will join it. Save immigration, of course, but let's face it, you only need so many goat-herders...

And that's the point. It's not just the burger flippers and shelf stockers that retire. It's also the researchers and doctors, the finance gurus and the engineers. Yes, there has never been a shortage of unskilled idiots. And that shortage sure isn't in any danger of growing, considering that the bar to enter the workforce sure rises yet again with AI taking over more and more unskilled jobs. So I don't fear for the low level jobs that they may go unfilled.

What I fear is that high level, senior positions will be hard to fill. For two reasons: First, the aforementioned 80% replacement rate. But even with 100% replacement rate, if we replace our juniors with AI, where should they get the experience to become those hard to find and highly sought seniors?

How about this one?

I'm curious why you think 50,000 copies sold per year earns an author a decent living. Many author contracts offer 10% of net for print books. If your book sells for $19.99, that's $2/book or $100,000 gross per year. The publisher also holds onto some percentage as "reserve" against future book returns, but let's ignore that. Book royalties in the US are considered self-employment income (Schedule C for taxes) which is often taxed higher than salaried income, say ~40%. So we are talking $60K/year in take-home pay, or $5000/month. Save 20% for retirement so you don't starve when you're old, and we're talking $4000/month to live on. Rent is high and groceries are expensive, not to mention health insurance. This is not really a decent living.

The equation is a bit different when you add e-books (25% royalty on a smaller sale price), or if you open a self-employed IRA (SEP) to save for retirement pre-tax, but overall it's in the same ballpark.

I am an author who sells 400-1000 copies per month which includes paper and digital copies. No way could I live on that income alone, so I have a full-time job and write in the evenings (because I love it).

You don't consider it serious that you're essentially indentured servants of corporations and that they can easily circumvent due process and force you into settling on their terms?

O... kay...

Georgia.

Yeah, there's a lot of lamenting, but face it, it's tantamount to complaining that the Beef Wellington isn't exactly medium on point where everyone around you is starving to death.

Compared to the problems you face, we're actually, I hate to say it, pretty well off.

Yep. Thus helping the blue states to maintain their dominance in technology work.

You are aware that the replacement rate of young people is not up to what it used to be, yes? For every 5 people you fire, you can only hire 4 new ones.

In a red state, the money would just be embezzled and then some semblance of the project is realized, preferably in a way that nobody can or would ever use, so nobody notices it's unusable.