In the end, employment is selling my time (which I cannot ever get back), for a pile of money. This pile of money, according to Marxian theory, is always less t

In the end, employment is selling my time (which I cannot ever get back), for a pile of money. This pile of money, according to Marxian theory, is always less than the total value I bring. The owners keep the surplus, which is a massive amount above my pay. I will maximize my pile of money. You speak of ethics - and I will not engage in jobs which I believe are unethical. But it too is unethical to grossly underpay the people in your employ. But in corporations, ethics are downgraded to the minimum law in the jurisdiction. As for me, I am not a slave to a job. I show up and do work because there was an agreed-upon value for that work. The money buys my loyalty in the allotted blocks of time. No more, no less. When that agreement is no longer good, I renegotiate or look elsewhere. I am in an at-will state. They too can provide 0 notice to change the terms as well. Maybe in yesteryear, when long careers at a single company were common, that worked. I've heard the anecdotal Dickensian rags-to-riches stories of "Internal mail delivery guy becomes CEO". Those days, along with proper promotions, commensurate significant pay and benefit increases, and title are effectively gone. (I'm sure there's rare places that do that. Again, anecdotal and exceedingly rare.) My, my colleagues, and those around me MUST job-hop to get those raises and benefits. Not doing so is leaving massive piles of money to burn. And ethically speaking, making sure I assist in keeping my family in a good financial condition is of utmost ethics. Here in the US, the "social net" is abject from decades of hatred, ignorance, and utter lack of funding. The only social net I can count on is the one I create. As a white guy, there is no net if I fall. And there is no depth I stop at if in free-fall. I know that well. I see the homeless I used to live with when I go in town. And I'm intimately aware how easy my job can go poof and end up destitute. So yes, I see the landscape. I know the rules. And I will job-hop and will min-max my time and money. I create my own safety-net. I live significantly beneath my means to create a buffer. My loyalty is currently purchased in blocks of time 1/2 month long. Unethical behavior will be responded to by aggressively looking elsewhere for a different neofeudal lord in which I can sell them my blocks of time. There is nothing unethical in any of this. This is the system I am subject to. And I'm better off than many. Would I change it to be more respectful to humans? Absolutely. But in the end, I'm only 1 voice in 350m. And I can only do the rational thing for me and my family.