A wage slave is someone whose immediate livelihood relies solely on wages from employment. In the third world wage slavery is with respect to wages to the equivalent of basic sustenance. However a new form of wage slavery has evolved in developed economies.
This modern wage slavery is where someone spends exactly what they earn each week (sometimes even more) on goods that they think that they need. You may recall people you know talking about how they need some new clothes or they need a bigger house. Given that these people are living week to week, this means they have no capacity for saving and thus no way of earning passive income. Consequently they are entirely dependent on wages as their only source of income.
Now what happens if an anvil falls on their head and they cannot work for six months? Why that's what income protection is for, right? Well yes, that's exactly right.
Now what happens if you absolutely hate your job and its making you miserable? You find a new one right? What if you can't find a new job? What if you just hate working altogether? Well then you're stuffed! And that's the point I am trying to get to. If you're miserable and you can't tell your boss to go stick it where the sun don't shine, whilst knowing that you can make three months rent; then I am afraid you're a wage slave.
Don't be too upset, I'm a wage slave and most of the people I know are wage slaves. It's just how society is geared. You go to school, so you can get a good job, so you can buy a nice house (and spend the next 40 years paying it off). Did anyone else notice we didn't get much choice in the matter?
There's a system that we were ushered into; get a crap job, buy a car, finish school/uni, get a better job, buy a house, have kids, buy another car, retire 45 years later. There was nothing in the handbook about the options of starting a business, saving 12 months worth of living expenses or investing some money.
On that note, I'm going to end this rant before I get to worked up on my financial literacy soap box. In subsequent rants I am going to talk how you can get out of the rat race of wage slavery and my conspiracy theory about how the entire world is hell bent on keeping you as a wage slave.
Until then,
Shut Up and Save!