Democracy? No, Institutional Greed.

Today, out of the blue, I got a call from the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) that we have engaged for several years to handle our payroll and, most importantly, give us access to health insurance for all of our staff. The call was made to inform me that the company is dropping us because we have been, and they believe we will always be, unprofitable to them. No suggestion that we might be profitable if they hiked their fees. No, they're just dropping us.

This is gut-wrenching news because it's damn near impossible for our company to get insurance coverage for our staff. Without a PEO, we don't stand a chance. AdminiStaff, the biggest one, won't even consider us because they required "7 FTEs" at minimum. We've been turned away by others in the past.

So, we're forced to look to find another PEO that might consider taking us, that might give us access to health care coverage. Health care coverage is not a matter of money (though it's certainly important); it's a matter of companies not wanting a guy with a history of heart surgery, a woman with a weak heart and a history of breast cancer, and various others who are not the picture of youth and guaranteed physical perfection.

This call came just before the office space broker called to say the rates he had given me on several spaces I've been looking at were several dollars higher per square foot than he has told me.

I'm angry tonght. I'm pissed off at the PEO for serving only the money masters and for caring fuck-all about their clients. When it comes to looking out after their clients' interests or keeping their shareholders happy with current income, it's a clear case of screwing the clients to the wall and licking the asses of the shareholders.

I'm pissed off at office space being ridiculously expensive. Consider this: why is 2,500 square feet of office space valued at 6-8 times the value assigned to a similarly-sized residence? Why? Because greedy mother-fuckers can strong-arm people into paying it.

Tonight, I'm as close as I've ever been to adopting a thoroughly Communist philosophy of economic and social justice. And if it means violent insurrection to give us the opportunity to see if we can get it right, then so be it. We've certainly created a miserable fucking failure with democracy and capitalism.