Maybe the real answer is to stay unemployed?

I'll say it again, maybe the real answer is to stay unemployed? I'm not talking about being lazy and not working, in fact very much the opposite. I have worked my butt off all my life and used to be a high paid IT guy working for the Fortune 500s and Government agencies. But now due to all the outsourcing and college grads willing to work for free as interns or 36k that you can't even live on these days I have little chance of getting a job. Besides I am 52 years old with a bad back and too big of a resume to get a job at Home Depot. Plus, these last 5 years of stress have just about killed me anyway so if I did get a job I probably couldn't handle it. In all actuality I am disabled from working because of my back and the pain it causes in my legs but I was denied disability (so far) because I said I could lift 50lbs. But they didn't ask me if I was going to be able to still walk after I lifted it. Yeah, I could do it but it maybe the very last time. And the real sad part is I have 5 year old child to raise and a wife to feed and shelter. We already live in an RV and soon we won't be able to afford to do that because I've run out of my savings. And you know how kindly laws are towards RVers parking on the streets and not paying rv park fees.

So back to the topic I started this with? None of us should be living like this, and we weren’t born slaves. It is terrible what has happened to us and it is slowing killing us all. If we had all just stayed on the land or farm we’d be living a much better and healthier life. We just buy too much junk that we think we must have to stay in the rat race but we really have been sold a bag of goods.
So what’s keeping us from moving back out to the farm to grow our own food and raise our kids properly and have quality of life? Well money of course but maybe there are some kind souls out there with some land that some of us can use to start our own ecovillage or something. Everybody go get an RV and we’ll find some acreage to farm and live on. Maybe people in this group have some land and we can pitch in and help them keep their land in exchange for letting us create a community on it. Just some food for thought.

Anyone want to join me? But I’m staying in California where it’s mostly warm. Take care all.

I've thought about that one too. Housing and food are the two biggest expenses that I have, and I don't even have any kids to support! I can imagine what you must be going through having to support a wife and kid - bigger apartment/home, bigger food bill, bigger utility bill, etc......

Most of our not so distant ancestors were living on farms. Times would get hard, but families had the ability to feed themselves at least. And keep a roof over their heads for the most part. Today, we are at the mercy of outside employment in order to feed and shelter ourselves - what kind of existence is that? People go homeless because they are dependent on obtaining employment in an economy that isn't providing it, so what else are we to do?

I hope you can find some people on here to join you and band together. I think banding together like this is our only hope. Me personally won't be buying an RV, and I don't know jack about farming, but I wish you luck and success in your endeavors!

Sorry I don't have anything more positive to offer you!

VerySadDad, if I had enough money I'd make it somehow to California and join you. There was a poster on this board by the name of Sovereign. He had a boat he and his wife lived on. I don't see him posting here, so I imagine he made good his escape to warmer climes.

Thanks Misty and Coyote for your replies. It's all very hard to explain because it seems that nobody could understand unless they themselves have to this point and have seen the bottom of the cliff and are intuned, intelligent, and intuitive enough to know exactly how you got here as well. I don't mean to be offensive to anyone but some of us go through this kind of stuff blaming ourself when it's not our fault at all but don't see what has been to us. Like I implied above I have been raised middle class most of my life and had a good career and made lots of money, homes, and new cars. However, I never splurged it or lived beyond my needs like so many others have. In fact this is why I was able to live so long off my savings because I knew what was important and what was not. I'm a tech guy and have never owned a smartphone because I don't want to be be one of the sheep and just do something because everyone else does. But it's almost like you are forced into it but I was able to resist. I'm probably just babbling so I'm going to stop now, it's been a very bad and sad day.

Btw. Food shouldn't be our biggest expense, and I mean the best food possible. In fact, it should be the smallest expense only taking a little bit of effort to grow, but they have taken it all away from us for the sake of their profits. Everyone should take a look at the videos on the Story of Stuff website as well as the podcasts and you will get a full understanding about what has been done to us. I have been trying tell people this stuff for years but people don't listen, most just think you're going crazy or have grown weak and are giving up. I suggest everyone look at those videos, but I won't live a link because it might be against the rules, but admin I promise I have nothing to do with that website.

Believe me, VerySadDad, I totally understand. You weren't babbling.

When I had a car I used to take long drives in the country, and I'd practically drool over the farmhouses I saw. Most folks have been brainwashed. They think or live a certain way. They want to remain clueless, because otherwise they'd have to face the cold hard facts.

Yeah Coyote sounds you have a clue. Most of us have been brainwashed into thinking that living in a new tract home is the good life. But in reality it's your prison. Yes it may be nice, it may be comfortable, etc. etc. but compare that to going into your backyard to enjoy the fruits of your own labor and spending your extra time just hanging with your family. We just weren't meant to slave every day and that is exactly what we are doing and we are getting less and less for our slave labor. So if anyone out there has some land and wants to start an ecovillage let me know. take care

I would be up to starting an Ecovillage or some such thing, however even that takes money, which I am in short supply of. Don't have enough for a plot of land, although there is crowdfunding. Personally, I'm more interested in a hobbitish agricultural community. Getting even a basic village going, is a hard route. You need access to heavy machinery just to get the basic earth moving stuff done. I would rather see a village that is built into the landscape, rather than ontop of it.