If you work in a nine-to-five for diminishing wages and dwindling self-respect, the author of The Bitcoin Age (Amazon affiliate link), Adam Livingston, says Bitcoin can help you break the chains of ‘wage slavery’. Let’s take a closer look.
Wage slavery: you are not employed, you are monetized
In today’s economy, most people like to think of themselves as “employed.” Working hard, building a career, and moving up the ladder. Well, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee, as Livingston bluntly warns:
“You sell your time for melting tokens that depreciate while you sit in traffic and rehearse what you’re going to say to HR after another Pizza Party raise.”
This cycle is what he calls wage slavery. You exchange hours of your life for currency that loses value by the day. The “grind” isn’t just a figure of speech; it’s real.
Livingston points to the rigged system we’re living in as prices rise, wages stagnate, and the retirement dream fades further into the background. Rents are up by more than 40%, eggs have become a luxury item, and salaries are frozen in time.
“The money printer goes brrr. Your paycheck goes missing. The system isn’t broken. It’s just not for you.”
The purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has fallen by about 95% since the 1970s. Imagine leaving your hard-earned wages in a bank for fifty years.
That’s not all: In 1970, the average UK house cost less than three times the average annual wage; by 2025, it’s more than seven times the average wage. Buying a home has become dramatically less affordable for the average worker over the past 55 years.
On the ‘fiat farm’, you get milked for your labor, sheared by taxes and inflation, and harvested for “productivity metrics” and Slack messages.
“They call it ‘the grind’ because you’re getting ground into paste.”
It’s a rigged, extractive machine, and opting out isn’t about protest or riot. It’s about quietly walking away from dependence on the system.
All is not lost: Bitcoin as a time machine
If you’re ready to get off the sinking ship, Bitcoin is your liferaft. Livingston describes Bitcoin not as a speculative gamble, but as a time machine for poor people:
“It doesn’t inflate. It doesn’t lie. It doesn’t ask permission. You’re not buying magic internet money. You’re buying back your future. One sat at a time.”
Where fiat is designed to decay, Bitcoin offers a fixed supply, enforced by code rather than political whim. Compounding the problem of wage slavery is the fact that you’ve been given poor investment advice all your life, according to Livingston. Traditional financial advice sounds safe on the surface:
“Buy bonds.”
“Diversify.”
“Mutual funds are safe.”
But diversification is just managed poverty, he argues. The point isn’t to mindlessly spray money across asset classes that all sink with inflation; it’s to escape the system driving that decline.
“But I’m broke!” you argue, I can’t even save for my vacation, let alone put money aside for my financial future. That’s a good thing, Livingston argues, flipping the usual fear on its head:
“That means you’re paying attention.”
Stacking Bitcoin isn’t about being rich. “It’s about not disappearing.” Even $5 a day matters. So, cut Netflix. Cancel the aimless brunches, and start reclaiming your sovereignty one sat at a time.