I receive many questions and requests at my consultancy. The majority of these center around career, education, business, finance, investing, even dating, sex, love, and marriage. But an increasingly frequent question is one of merit. One of fairness. One of justice. And one of plain, simple morality:

"If corporations are going to hire/promote underqualified affirmative action hires over me, why should I go work for these corporations? Furthermore, why should I even try? Why bother going to school for a hard discipline such as STEM or Actuarial Science if they're going to promote a lesser qualified person over me because of their skin color or plumbing?"

It's arguably the most important question in a person's life because mathematically you are not going to spend a higher percentage of your life on anything else than your career. You'll spend a mandatory 13 years in our country's prisons...err...."public schools." An effective additional mandatory 4 years on a bachelors degree. You'll go into inordinate amounts of debt to get it. And then you're expected to spend the next 40 years working in said profession, from which THE TOTALITY OF YOUR FUTURE INCOME WILL DERIVE. You and your ENTIRE FAMILY'S LIVES AND FUTURES will depend on your income earning potential, and that potential is directly threatened and undermined if employers (be they government, corporations, non-profits, or schools) are going to throw merit out the window and replace it with what is by literal definition racism, sexism, favoratism, nepotism, or some other form of bigotry. This puts any hard-working, talented and (above all else) self-respecting employee between a rock and a hard place because what exactly are you supposed to do? Participate in a biased and unfair system, effectively making you a quasi-slave? Or participate at nothing at all, rendering you a 32 year old millennial who lives at home in his mother's basement?

But here an interesting economic, one could even say zen-like phenomenon takes place. There is no action without a reaction. No atomic change on one side of the molar equation that does not have an equal change on the other. No decision without consequences. And no push without shove. ALL systems (be they physical, economic, sociological, chemical, even political) have balance, by the laws of the universe they must have balance. And while political forces think they're getting something for nothing in hiring underqualified people over more-deserving people (which may in fact be true), there is an equal and opposite reaction that will render whatever political victory they have moot, perhaps even ruin Corporate America itself.

The Equal and Opposite Reaction

On the face of it it may look like the political forces of affirmative action (namely socialist/democrat) have "won." They have successfully gotten what was once "Evil Corporate America" (remember them?) to become "Sensitive, Touchy Feeling, Green Organic, Fair Trade America." Corporations are bending over backwards to virtue signal their caring, socialist, leftist, environmental credentials. And among that is hiring or promoting underqualified affirmative action hires over more-qualified candidates.

But did the champions of affirmative action really "win?"

Because while no doubt cheerleaders of affirmative action, staff members of CSR departments, and HR directors abound deep down inside are celebrating they got rid of that mean, cold, calculating "merit-based system" (and dare I also accuse some of them of genuine misandry), there are two unintended consequences for replacing a merit-based employment/promotion system with a political/bigoted one.

The first is they will drive the truly talented labor away from Corporate America. Oh sure, Jimmy may go work for a Silicon Valley firm fresh out of college because that's where he's been conditioned to go. And Amy may go work for Wall Street with her finance degree because that's where she was programmed to go. But once Jimmy gets passed over for promotion for the lesser-qualified Jessica because he doesn't have a vagina, or Amy doesn't get her promotion because the lesser-qualified Phyllis claims to be trans, soon Jimmy and Amy will look elsewhere for work. And little does management know Jimmy and Amy do the job it would take 5 people to replace each until its too late. Matter of fact, Jimmy might tell his younger brother Steve not to bother with Silicon Valley because it is sexist and not merocratic. Steve might relay the story of Jimmy to his friends, and soon a reputation exists that if you're X gender or Y skin color or Z sex, you just don't bother applying for Silicon Valley.

It may take some time, but the result will be a mass-exodus of qualified people from Corporate America. And forget mass-exodus as that implies people had been there to begin with. "Dearth" of talented, qualified employees is what will result (and interestingly enough is what most of Corporate America has been complaining about these past five years). Whatever talented people were in Corporate America will leave. And over time (which has been happening) Corporate America will develop the reputation that if you're not a protected class of people, don't even bother applying. And while I know the calculus of modern day corporate management is that the costs of having a subpar labor force will be more than offset by the increase in revenue such virtue signaling will afford, that is a big gamble they are going to lose. Because as Corporate America gets hollowed out of all of its talented labor it simply won't be able to survive. It will become a Japanese keiretsu or a Korean chaebol - corrupt, inept, inefficient, full of politics, and heavily dependent on government bailouts. It won't happen today, but I predict this will become reality within 50 years. Fortune 500 companies will become so notoriously corrupt and political any talented, skilled employees will know not to work there or at best cut their teeth there to move on.

The second unintended consequence is "The Wilderness."

If Corporate America is going to effectively expunge and banish talented labor from their ranks, where do the best and the brightest go?

The answer is "The Wilderness."

I call it "The Wilderness" because most modern day employees are programmed, used too, and have grown accustomed to W2 employment. It's a salaried position. It's a stable job. It's usually with a stable company. Perhaps a company that is "popular" and "looks good on your resume." Oh, and how can I forget? The preciously over-priced health insurance you get with being an employee (that you pay for by the way in accepting a lower salary). Like a domesticated, fragile tea-cup dog, most American workers want the warm, consistent, well-fed W2 employment on "the inside" of Corporate America. And if they are ever kicked outside, then they are forced to live in "The Wilderness." A world of self-employment, consulting gigs, second jobs, independent contractor work, recruiters, temp agencies, 1099 forms, and forced self-employment.

At first "The Wilderness" may seem like a barren wasteland of unemployment, marginal employment, and the daunting reality of "forced self-employment." But it is a blessing in disguise for the talented people being ostracized and ex-communicated from Corporate America. For while you may be banished into the "Wilderness of Self Employment" you are in fact being forced into the world of 1099'ers. And while you may have to give up your creature comforts of W2, when you sit down and think about it...

we 1099'ers are the superior race.

And not only the superior race, but we are the future.

Commutes and Telecommuting

How are we 1099'ers not only superior, but the future?

Let me count the ways.

The first (and what I would personally argue is the largest single benefit) is that 1099'ers increasingly don't have to commute. This is not a guarantee for everybody, but as more and more of the stodgy, stubborn, and close-minded baby boomer managerial class dies/retires out, more and more 1099 work will be allowed to be done from home. This is especially the case if you're a hard working, non-affirmative-action class, whose profession happens to be in STEM, IT, programming, computers, software, data, etc. Yes, there will be that clueless boss that says, "if I can't see you how do I know you're working?" And yes, if your profession is more clerical, accounting, finance, etc., you will likely be forced to physically attend work. But if you're truly skilled and your talent is not merely a commodity, there's a good chance you will not have to commute.

The reason I believe not having a commute is the single largest benefit of being a 1099'er is because there is no larger waste of your free time than commuting. You get nothing for it. Your health (both physical and mental) suffers from it. And if you don't have to do it, you free up - at some time - 25% of your waking free time each day. But another benefit of not having to go to the office is you avoid the politics of the office as well. No HR/Diversity/CSR/TouchyFeely meetings. No "mandatory training" which is reserved for the "real" employees. Matter of fact, it's like getting an "out of school suspension" which (if any of you ever got one) is pretty freaking great!

So let the W2 sheep commute. Let them cue up on the on ramp. Let them also cue up on the off ramp. Let them cue up to pay for parking, and let them do it ALLLLLL over again on the trip back home.

You just pour yourself another coffee or go for a run.

You Can Be a Whore

If you're merely a hired gun to do some kind of project or specialist work of some kind, you are not enslaved to the company either by hours or contract. By that I mean as a 1099'er you only put in as many hours as there is work and are not forced to be there 9-5 "because that's what all the other employees have to do." You do your work, you go home...assuming you're not working from home already. Also, there are no (technically "rarely") non-compete agreements you sign as a 1099 Superior Racer, so you can go work on another project be it a competing company or your own project. This flexibility allows you to not only take on as much work as you want, but each hour is compensated (as opposed to the salaried W2 sucker...err..."worker" who puts in 60 hours of work for 40 hours of pay). Furthermore, this diversifies your income and potentially your skill level.

Many years ago when I was pretty I not only worked in banking, but also taught finance classes on the side, moonlighted as a ballroom dance instructor, managed rental property, and managed to write several books. And though it was originally some tough going, and my paychecks were not as regular as a reliable W2 stooge, overtime it built up multiple sources of income that I paid off my house early, had residual income, effectively retired early, and never have to answer to a boss again.

If you stay within one company, within one industry, honing on one skill set, you will forever be pigeon holed into, and dependent upon that industry. But as a 1099'er Superior Racer, you can explore, experiment, and whore around, inevitably discovering and capitalizing on economic opportunities and skills you never knew existed. Hopefully, ideally, someday starting a company where you never have to answer to a boss again.

Write Offs/Taxes

Though not terribly sexy another great advantage of belonging to the 1099 Superior Race is that we get to write things off that normie, conformie W2'ers cannot. As a 1099'er you are technically running a company. And any expense associated with conducting that job is a tax deductible expense:

Gas, mileage, cell phone, computers, laptops, internet service, lunches, office supplies, printers, classes/training, professional clothing, tablets, software, parking, health insurance, car insurance, the electric bill, the gas bill, the cell phone bill

a BEVY of normal, everyday expenses are deductible for you 1099'ers while the W2'ers just get to pay THOUSANDS of dollars for parking, gas, insurance, and cars without the ability to deduct them. And I'm sure if you add up the financial benefits of these deductions, it more than pays for your health insurance (unless you have a family of 4 to support).

Health Insurance is Cheaper

Speaking of health insurance, it's cheaper if you're a 1099'er.

Oh, I know the W2'ers are like Golem and the ring when it comes to health insurance, but most W2'ers don't understand health insurance and how it's paid.

First, if you look at what your company is paying for in health insurance, just for you, it's very likely you could find something a lot cheaper on the free market or your state exchange. Matter of fact the last job I worked the company was paying $450 A MONTH for a HEALTHY, SINGLE, YOUNG, MALE. THIS WAS BEFORE OBAMACARE. I knew that (at the time) I could find a catastrophic insurance policy for $90 a month and could pocket the difference.

When I offered this proposition to my then-employer they said they couldn't do that. That the insurance company wouldn't allow them to do that. Like all things in Corporate America, it was a lie, because you CAN indeed just decide to pay somebody out and not pay for their health insurance. But the real reason I couldn't leave and they couldn't just pay me an extra $450 per month was because of all the fat, old, unhealthy people who worked for the company, as well as the employees who had children who needed health insurance. Young, single, in shape people are needed to subsidize the cost of unhealthy, fat, old and child-full people. Alas, even though IT IS YOU WHO IS PAYING FOR YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE AS A W2 EMPLOYEE, you do not have the option to get insurance for yourself because they need you to subsidize others.

If you are Superior Race 1099'er, they can't parasite off of you and you get a policy (private market or state system) that covers you and you alone. And bar children, obesity, or some other ailment, it's almost always guaranteed to be cheaper than what you pay as a W2 slave.

Hired Gun Specialist vs Being Your Boss' Bitch

Though not financial or a tangible benefit, there is a huge psychological benefit to being part of the 1099'er Superior Race - you're not an employee. You're a hired gun. You're a specialist. The line goes ACROSS from your boss to you. Not down. You and your boss are equals.

I especially appreciate this benefit because, for the most part, bosses are composed of two items - incompetence and arrogance. This results in nearly 80% of bosses not only being unable to lead, but blaming their failures on any unfortunate W2 employees beneath them because their ego simply won't allow them to acknowledge they're incompetent. This results in a hellish environment for W2 employees as bosses commonly bark contradictory orders, never provide leadership in the first place, fail to provide the tools W2 slaves need to do the job, and in general just make most jobs impossible to do.

As a 1099'er Superior Racer, ESPECIALLY if you're a specialist and have other clients, you don't have to take this shit. In my consulting practice I make it very clear to my "bosses" that they are not superior to me, they need me more than I need them, and there will be no baby-boomer-MBA antics of politics, ineptitude, blaming, emotions, and incompetence. And what's funny is once you standup to a boss, they almost always collapse instead of fire you. Problem facing W2'ers is they can't risk that. As a 1099'er Superior Racer, as long as you have a diversified portfolio of gigs or clients, you can fire any boss at any time for any reason. And once they know this, it's AMAZING how much more competent and compliant they become.

Opportunity is Where the Talent Is

Finally, economic opportunity.

Again, you may be thinking the political forces of affirmative action/socialism have won. They've captured Corporate America. They've taken away what is one of the largest opportunities and venues for hard-working people to excel, succeed, and enrich themselves. How can a hard working, talented individual succeed without access to this pre-established infrastructure of Corporate America? The problem is you don't understand economic opportunity and where it comes from. It comes from talented hard-working people.

When Corporate America says, "Employees are our best asset," they don't mean that. They just say that to get you to work for them for a cheaper rate. Ironically, however, it's true. Employees are a company's best asset and if not used correctly, that company will fail. Take all the resources, materials, commodities, energy, and capital assets that go into the entirety of Corporate America. They are the exact same resources, materials, commodities, energy and capital assets that go into every other corporation. The ONLY thing different is the people the company employs. From the CEO to the mail clerk, if those people are not "the best" then the company will fail (or at least underperform) over the long run. But since Corporate America has decided to pursue a policy of affirmative action/virtue signaling/politics, they are gutting themselves of this one and only precious commodity. In due time (though I would argue today), the only thing these corporations have is their brand name and financial capital to buy talent/patents/innovative companies.

The question is do you want to be on that sinking ship?

Corporate America was already an abusive household to the fragile W2 tea cup dogs who thought they'd make their professional home there. Be it you, me, your friends, or our neighbors, there is no shortage of stories of corruption, greed, incompetence, psychopathy, egomania, politics, and simple mental torture in Corporate America. There's also the insane hoops of hurdles, unpaid overtime, corporate politics, mandatory diversity/CSR/sexual harassment training, not to mention the COMPLETELY unnecessary requirement of a college degree to even apply to these institutions. It was already an unacceptable deal to begin with for any self-respecting employee. Now that you're adding racist/sexist/bigoted hiring practices, forget it. Corporate America will become an insane asylum NOBODY of ANY skill or ANY race or gender will want to work for. And forget "will." It already "has."

Brendan Eich's firing from Mozilla because he made a political donation is the perfect example of politics becoming Nazi-esque in that your employer dares to think they have a right to your personal life and personal politics.

Facebook employees throwing a temper tantrum because Joel Kaplan (a Facebook VP) sat in on the Kavanaugh hearings and was a friend of Brett Kavanaugh.

Even the unassailable Google had a 20,000 employee walkout over their sexual harassment policy.

Again, Corporate America was bad enough when you, at least on the face of it, showed up to do your job. Now, you need the right skin color to get the job, the right plumbing to advance, oh, and by the way, here's a healthy dose of politics that the millennials will be forcing into the corporate culture AND your personal life as well.

Forget it, put me on the Titanic in the middle of a middle school popularity contest with Cardi B music blasting in the back ground. It will be less painful and it will sink slower.

The real economic opportunity, the real future of career and professional success will be with the 1099'ers. While the dumpster fire of Corporate America continues to burn ever brighter, what most of you have to realize is that success comes from talented, hard working people. Economic growth comes from talented, hard working people. Opportunity comes from hard working people. And while Corporate America devolves into a bankrupt 1990's Korean Chaebol soap opera, all the 1099'ers who were purged (or never invited to attend Corporate America anyway) will inevitably have to ply their skills and talents in "The Wilderness." And these applications of their skills will take economic form in several ways.

Perhaps most commonly is where a 1099'er will have to be hired to undo the damage a W2 employee made. I don't know how many times I've heard of an independent contractor programmer having to redo entire programs of code an H-1B visa screwed up, but it could be (and I would argue, is already happening) where the majority of a corporation's W2 jobs are just make-work, affirmative action jobs for PR purposes, and the "real" work gets done by the 1099'ers. 1099'ers who charge $140 per hour, which is more than you'd ever get out of Corporate America.

Another common one is consulting. Despite touting "Employees are our best assets," Corporate America will NEVER listen to their foot soldiers or rank and file employees. They will, however, pay Bain, McKinsey, and Andersen Consulting (oh wait....) $1,000 an hour to tell them something their employees could have told them for free. Any specialist or hired gun can cash in on this consulting, especially if they have industry experience, effectively doing the managerial work Corporate America's senior and middle managers are just too stupid to do.

And finally "forced self employment."

If you are forced into The Wilderness and are unencumbered by corporate politics, bosses, meetings, and CPE, you will have an inordinate amount of time on your hands. Additionally, being forced into the 1099 world more or less forces you to develop some entrepreneurial skills. It is very likely that with this extra time, this forced quasi-self-employment, and your talents you are going to identify some business and entrepreneurial opportunities Kevin in Accounting is too busy to identify because he's buried in TPS reports. Not all of these entrepreneurial opportunities are going to result in the next Microsoft, but some of them will result in some surprisingly profitable lines of business. And whereas previous to being banished from Corporate America you could only dream of making $85,000 a year as a senior manager at Initech where they *might* give you .000007% tuition reimbursement for your MBA, you'll suddenly find yourself making $200,000 a year, with no commute, no boss, and no need for an MBA because you came across a business opportunity and exploited it.

Regardless of how you derive your revenue in The Wilderness, chances are it will be higher pay. Not only because Corporate America will STILL need talented labor, but because you will not be so embattled and beleaguered working for Corporate America. You will be free of the politics, free of the commute, free of the unnecessary CPE or diversity training, and free to fully avail yourself of your skills, talents, and abilities. And like refugees escaping a communist country, being free allows you to become a doctor, a surgeon, an entrepreneur, not to mention network and work with fellow Superior Race 1099'ers to actually HUSTLE, MAKE MONEY AND PROFIT and not bow down, worshiping the idol of political correctness, diversity, affirmative action, corporate virtue signaling and other buzzwords low IQ MBA's are using as Corporate America's prime managerial strategy.

Corporate America has no future. Let the W2 sheeple have it. Go out into The Wilderness and join the "1099 Superior Race."

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