[aorloff]

America is rigged to benefit the business owner. This used to make more sense where in the first couple hundred years the end goal of a profession was being the head of your own shop.

But it is still true that a lot of people, including all stripes of middle class, are self employed or have income other than wages (I shared a chairlift recently with someone who spent 1/3 of the year ranching his cattle, 1/3 of the year farming a crop with his grandfather and a hired hand, and 1/3 of the year as a ski bum - 3 types of seasonal hard labor that gave him the freedom he wanted)