As a contractor I don’t feel I opted out of a “social contract.” Instead, I opting in to a tailored package of benefits that I choose myself. I fund (at very r

As a contractor I don’t feel I opted out of a “social contract.” Instead, I opting in to a tailored package of benefits that I choose myself. I fund (at very reasonable cost) my insurances directly. The phrase “social contract” sounds like statist utopian fiction to me. It’s a sad world indeed, when employees can only rely on the impersonal, bureaucratic HR department of their massive employer. Or the cold, dead hand of the state and its civil servants. Freedom lies in taking responsibility for your own affairs. Insuring yourself against calamity. Saving money for a rainy day. Step outside our one-size-fits-all system, and further both your career and your security.