Truthout: Welcome to the Franchise Society

"Ownership Society", my ass.

Link:
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/030305LB.shtml

(snip)
President Bush's "ownership society" is one of those poll-tested themes that play well to American audiences. If you work for a living, ownership suggests being your own boss and controlling your work life. But don't expect the president's ownership society to deliver those benefits.

Bush's ownership society is more like a franchise society, in which you're either working for someone else as the franchisee or getting someone else to do your work for you as the franchiser.

Think of truckers who own their rigs, taxi drivers who rent their cabs and janitors who work as independent contractors. They own their jobs. But they invariably work more hours for less pay and no benefits.

The franchise society isn't worth much if what you own is a one-person business beholden to those who control the terms of the franchise. Many Fed Ex delivery drivers are now independent contractors, according to The Wall Street Journal. They work their butts off, while dogged by supervisors who track their deliveries and remind them that there is always someone waiting to take over their routes.

(snip)

much more...

:grr: