Men AND women, boys and girls need to try as much as possible to procure a hobby (or career, if possible) that involves owning a MEANS OF PRODUCTION. That is, being able to "create" something from relatively cheap raw materials. For example, making rope from tree bark, clothes from cloth or even old clothing, food from seeds and a bit of dirt, sheds from lumber -- you get the idea.

My point is that everyone should try to NOT just "work for a company" because if you can't point to what you produce, your job is in danger. Period.

If you can't "gracefully degrade" your current job into selling it door-to-door at a slightly discounted rate to help feed your family/pay the bills -- you need to look at a different line of work -- at least in your spare time.

Bad: Engineer that specializes in designing computer chips
Good: Mechanical Engineer

Bad: IT department manager
Good: well-rounded Software Engineer who can design, program, test, maintain and market software/websites

A plumber could hawk his services door-to-door if he were starving. A construction worker could knock on my door and make an offer I couldn't refuse to build me a new shed. A mechanic could fix my broken weedwhacker and feed his family for a day if he were frugal.

If you couldn't do something similar -- reconsider your current career. If you need others -- or your company's $100,000 machine -- to help produce some end result, or if you have no idea what the end result really is -- you're in a vulnerable industry that could send you and hundreds of others to the unemployment lines for no fault of your own. Likewise, if you work in a service industry that you could easily picture people living without (hair styling/coloring, beauty salon, etc.) you might not be able to survive a serious economic downturn.

I think some people work at jobs wherein they basically react like a man who found a hole in the ground spurting out dollar bills:

He would dance around, excitedly, singing "I don't know how it got there, or how it works, but I'm one happy camper!" and he would proceed to go to work every day and milk that cash cow, trying not to ask too many questions!

But if a person of average intelligence can't trace where the money is coming from -- how your "paper pushing" is able to be traded for financial support to the tune of $50,000 a year, for example -- there is a possibility it's not founded in reality and reality might come crashing down upon you at any time.

Matthew, I am glad you brought up this topic.  To put it lightly, I really do not like my job of making other people rich while I cant seem to get ahead.  I have been trying to start my own business, on and off, for about a year now (yardwork, pet waste removal, and trash hauling.) But this, so far, has been in vain.  It is extremely hard to find that first customer ( at least for me.)  I really have no special skills (I went to a Novus Ordo seminary and was majoring in philosophy and religious studies) yet desire strongly to be free of my capitalistic company and support my wife and hopefully future children on my own.  I know I am probaly shouting into the wind, but working for someone else who is not Catholic is extremely frustrating.  Yet it is a Cross that must be loved for the sake of Christ and His Cross.

I heard it said once, that a father who does not teach his son a trade, sins in neglect thereby, because people with a trade can always get by.

Blue collar is always there, white collar isn't.

That said, Catholic prophecy and all the social ills of these times, all indicating things ought to get worse and worse, for those who can adapt to a more agrarian lifestyle outside of the cities with some farmable land would be wise to do so.

I  sell stuff for a living, own my own business, and am close to a comfortable retirement.  However, I could use the stuff I sell in much the way Matthew suggests if need be.  This has always been in the back of my mind, and has been a source of security.