I recently read an engaging article penned by the able scribes over at Christian Science Monitor. The point of the article was simply that young adults are increasingly finding it difficult to achieve financial independence in modern America. The article was not focused on high school dropouts, or even high school graduates – but college graduates, who find themselves ever dependent on credit and debt just to get to the position where decent wages are a possibility. Modern life in America, to many young adults, is slowly turning into something akin to indentured servitude. Workers spend decades just trying to pay banks back for the tools they needed to get a corporate job in the first place.What’s happening to America? Are all the good jobs being shipped to India? Is it the incessant scheming of our Commander-in-Chief and his “more for us” cronies, or perhaps the impotent showing by the Democrats in the arena of defending middle class America? Are corporate crooks from the energy industry bleeding us dry, or have lobbyists like Jack Abramoff grown so powerful that only the interests of the rich and connected matter anymore to elected officials? Are we losing the checks and balances that were carefully erected to protect opportunity in America and, more to the point, the powerless from the powerful? Has big business in America been refined to such an art that those with mostly modest means no longer have many opportunities to compete – even with hard work and determination – and to claim their own slice of the American dream?

I have never been the kind of person who would be easily satisfied with a typical 9-5 corporate office job. I consider myself to be something of an independent operator, and I like to take my business and financial direction from yours truly. In past decades, there was always a place for people such as myself in American commerce. For those of us who weren’t cut out for big company culture, we could always start our own business – and the success rates weren’t too horrible for able-minded entrepreneurs. Family-run businesses have been part of the fabric of American life ever since European colonists first arrived at the New World. Many young middle class men, after graduating from high school, would face the choice between going into the family business – whatever that may be – or striking out of their own, knowing the family business was there if they failed.

But what will happen to the independent-minded business men when America has little to offer but one of those 9-5 corporate jobs that I find so blatantly unappealing? What happens when the family businesses all die a horrible Wal-Mart death?

I come from a family of fishermen, and they made a very comfortable living in one of the most beautiful towns in America. Yet fish farms came into the picture about the time I was growing old enough to work and earn my share. Suddenly the fishing industry, after surviving for untold generations, had come up short before I could wrap my hands around the family relay baton. How many family video stores were crushed after only one generation of operation thanks to the emergence of large corporate players like Blockbuster Video and later Wal-Mart, Netflix and others? What’s left in America for the independent business man when the community business dies? If you want to open a coffee shop, you’re going to have to contend with Starbucks. If you have an interest in selling toys to children, good luck competing with the likes of Target and Wal-Mart – heck, even the former slayer of family toy stores, Toys ‘R Us, is having a tough time keeping pace with those to giants. Perhaps a grocery store? The days of locally owned markets are almost over, with only the occasional player still surviving. You might have some luck with a restaurant, but that’s not a cheap proposition… the margins are murder, and the failure rate is astronomical; not to mention, chain restaurants have been gobbling up a larger and larger piece of the American pie with each passing year. Got a Chili’s, Outback Steakhouse or Olive Garden near your house? Unless you live in the boonies, I’m betting you do.

Little by little, business opportunities are dwindling for those with modest start-up means – and few young adults have the family business to fall back on these days. And when workers have no choice but to work for large companies, how do you expect those workers to be treated? What are the chances that a company might, for example, simply not make good on its promised pensions for retirees? Yup, it’s already happening. Benefits are decreasing, and wages are relatively stagnant for those who are not part of the corporate elite. When President Clinton left office in 2000, the average CEO earned four times the salary of the average worker in his or her company – but now, under Bush, the average CEO earns 40 times the salary of the average worker in his or her company. I wonder where they found the extra money to pay those CEOs all that extra cash?

And some of the Christian groups wonder why family life is suffering?

For those of us independents who simply are not ready to accept corporate rule in America, the internet represents one of our last and greatest hopes of relative self-sufficiency. And while there are a number of different business models available to internet entrepreneurs, the online adult entertainment business represents one of the best opportunities with low start-up costs. Webmasters with basic HTML skills can get started by building free websites and galleries, and then funnel that traffic to large pay sites in exchange for a share of the profits. More advanced webmasters can build their own membership-based websites. There are opportunities for photographers and videographers with decent enough talent, and there is always a good buck to be made for models with the right look for a specific niche. But in addition to opportunity in general, the kind of opportunity offered by the online adult business is the kind of opportunity with an unknown ceiling – which makes it an exciting field of work.

How much can you earn working your days as a retail clerk at Borders bookstore? How much can you earn as a receptionist for the local dentist? What about working as a computer tech at Best Buy? All of these jobs have clearly-defined ceilings in terms of your potential earnings – and I don’t think many people would disagree with me when I say these ceilings aren’t high enough for a comfortable living in America. It’s not good enough to make just enough money to get by; it wasn’t that long ago that a hard worker with professional skills could earn enough to pay the bills, take the occasional vacation, and still have enough money to put away for future security or retirement – and that was on a single family income. Fewer young Americans can make that same claim today, even though most families now have two incomes. But how much can an adult webmaster make? Well now, that depends largely on how good he/she is at what he/she does.

So to all of you who have turned to the adult internet to find happiness in modern America, let me say first and foremost that I understand. The chance to actually make enough money on your own to live comfortably – and on your own terms – is indeed an opportunity that’s just too good to ignore. It isn’t as easy to succeed in this business as it was just a few short years ago, but the welcome absence of America’s corporate elite means there is opportunity here for everyone – even those of you with very modest start-up means, but a head full of really good ideas.