Paul Krugman: The Unfreeing of American Workers

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose:

The Unfreeing of American Workers, by Paul Krugman, NY Times: American conservatives love to talk about freedom. ... Well, why not? After all, America is an open society, in which everyone is free to make his or her own choices about where to work and how to live.

Everyone, that is, except the 30 million workers now covered by noncompete agreements, who may find themselves all but unemployable if they quit their current jobs; the 52 million Americans with pre-existing conditions who will be effectively unable to buy individual health insurance, and hence stuck with their current employers, if the Freedom Caucus gets its way; and the millions of Americans burdened down by heavy student and other debt. ...

And you can make a strong case that we’re getting less free as time goes by.

Let’s talk first about those noncompete agreements... Noncompete agreements were originally supposed to be about protecting trade secrets... And that’s perfectly reasonable.

At this point, however, almost one in five American employees is subject to some kind of noncompete clause..., noncompete clauses are in many cases less about protecting trade secrets than they are about tying workers to their current employers, unable to bargain for better wages or quit to take better jobs.

This shouldn’t be happening in America... But there’s another aspect of declining worker freedom...: health care.

Until 2014, there was basically only one way Americans under 65 with pre-existing conditions could get health insurance: by finding an employer willing to offer coverage. ...

But what if you wanted to change jobs, or start your own business? Too bad: you were basically stuck...

Then Obamacare went into effect, guaranteeing affordable care even to those with pre-existing medical conditions. This was a hugely liberating change for millions. ...

But maybe not for much longer. Trumpcare ... would drastically reduce protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. And even if that bill never becomes law, the Trump administration is effectively sabotaging individual insurance markets, so that in many cases Americans who lose employer coverage will have no place to turn...

You might say, with only a bit of hyperbole, that workers in America, supposedly the land of the free, are actually creeping along the road to serfdom, yoked to corporate employers the way Russian peasants were once tied to their masters’ land. And the people pushing them down that road are the very people who cry “freedom” the loudest.