Having a job vs. having financial freedom.

Is anyone else tired of punching in & out at a lousy job that barely pays your bills? Many talk about having a secure job (no such thing anymore) where you work 25 years (another myth) and then retire and enjoy the last few years of your life. I recently had the privilege of not working for a few months. Unfortunantly, i became broke because my bills never take time off, and it took me that much time to find another "job". But during that time, my mind and eyes were opened up like never before. You see, living the american dream by having a 9-5 job where you punch in & out (my current job has a hand scanner for that), getting paid just enough to get by (some are luckier there), working up to 50 years of your life (more or less) and then retire with the hopes that you saved a few pennies or made a couple of wise investments so that you can finally do all the things you wanted to when you were younger (but now you may be too old or sick) but never had the time or money, is basically a dream. In the words of George Carlin: "why do they call it the american dream? because you have to be asleep to see it." When you can't afford something, all you can do is dream about it. The system of having a job is all about the company maximizing their profits. I'm sure many of us have seen the movie The Matrix (only the first was worth anything), where people were harvested as a source of energy. Well, that's exactly how many jobs are like. Most of us have to work long hours, with pushy bosses, and sometimes with jerks as co-workers, only to go home to recharge yourself and then do it all again the next day. With the country's economy in a decline (unless you watch FOX news where they tell you all's well) people are looking for alternatives to supplement their income. Some are doing it the old fashion way by working 2 physical jobs (usually with twice the misery), and others are looking into home-based businesses which now is on a huge rise because it has many advantages (like working from home, tax breaks, more time to spend with family & friends) over a regular job. I remember where a woman told Bush (the guy with the president title) that she has to work 3 jobs (2-3, not sure) just to get by these days, and his response with a smile on his face was "that's great, only in America!". That should be a wake-up call to all of us.