When the economy feels rigged, shortcuts start to look rational

[slapper]

How often have we sought a short cut? A quick opportunity. A secret method. Something that will not waste the years of boring construction. I have done it. Many times. And nearly every time I came out worse than I would have kept patient. But after a couple of months I am back and looking. Why do we do this?

I believe it is because the straight and narrow way seems like it is impossible. Work for 30 years. Save a little each month. Hope nothing bad happens. Hope prices do not increase faster than your savings. Hope you do not get sick. Hope your industry is not extinct. That is a lot of hoping. And then, when you are sitting with that feeling, that the safe route is not safe after all, shortcuts begin to seem like logic. Not greedy. Rational. If the slow road may fail anyway, why not try the fast one? At least there is a chance. I am familiar with this reasoning since I have experienced it.

But here is what I begin to think. It is not that we desire shortcuts. The problem is that we are building on things that we do not control. Jobs that can disappear. Systems that can change. Prices that are charged by individuals we will never see. The actual shortcut (perhaps the only one that works) is to require less of those systems. Study how to do things that remain useful even in the collapse of the industries. Create relationships with individuals, not only platforms. Spend less so you need less.

[Odogwu-Blockchain]

The system had been built and controlled to be like that from the beginning of colonisation, the system warned that, those that try to shortcut will be punished and be destroyed and so every others learn lessons and never try it.

Shortcut is a threat to the system, whoever discover shortcut to success without been caught is said to be filty rich and make any changes to what he wants or not.

Because it's been known that it's harder to build on a salary based jobs, imagine a hacker could get some million dollars at once, the economy would be easy for him even when it's tough for others, would be more easy to establish more businesses that can print more and more for him.

[Alpha Marine]

And what pushes people to really contemplate short shortcut is that you see people who have done it or are doing it, and they're so successful. When you look at the business history of a lot of wealthy people, you will see that even though they didn't do anything illegal, they were unethical. They didn't break the law, but they bent and stretched the law as much as they could.
The game is actually rigged. It's so difficult. I see how big corporations shut down small competitors, and I wonder how we are supposed to compete. It's really a "survival of the fittest" world. The strong crush the weak. You don't even need to be weak to be crushed; if you don't want to dance along to the turn of the music, you will be crushed.
An example of this is Shayne Coplan, the founder of Polymarket, who had his house raided by the FBI a year ago, found a way to dance along with the music, and now he is swimming with the sharks.

[abhiseshakana]

I believe shortcuts are dangerous not because of their speed, but because of their slow impact. When we take shortcuts, we forgo discipline, frustration tolerance, resilience, and stress management. Shortcuts often lead to instant results that often make us feel self-sufficient, underestimating the hard work of others, and becoming vulnerable when real challenges arise. Worse, shortcut takers often view others' success as a fluke and feel entitled to the same results without commensurate effort.

The long road isn't always safe, and shortcuts aren't always bad. What matters is our capacity to navigate them. What makes life's journey feel light and stable isn't speed, but resilience, which comes from transferable skills, healthy financial management, strong human relationships, and a lifestyle that doesn't overwhelm ourselves. When our foundations are weak, shortcuts often appear, even though if our character were strong, we could solve problems without shortcuts. This is an emotional reaction to uncertainty, not a morally wrong choice.

Shortcuts may speed our pace, but it's the process that expands our capacity. What we pursue with shortcuts can be obtained quickly, but only the process makes us able to maintain what we achieve/get.

[viljy]

The lack of control over factors beyond our control pushes us to take shortcuts. After all, what a shortcut is is a reduction in the amount of time in which we depend on factors beyond our control (for example, luck in gambling). I will not give an obvious example of stealing something because it is a criminal act. But I can't help but give an example of trading on the stock exchange with leverage. In both the short and especially the long path (career), the most dangerous thing is the illusion of control that sometimes arises. In fact, the OP is right - there is no control.