The solution that Jefferson and Lincoln (among other American Founders) envisioned was that everybody would eventually be self-employed even if they started their career as an employee to gain experience and save up capital. Working for somebody else means they get the better end of the deal (i.e. you probably won't have a job for long if they aren't making a profit off of you) so of course universal self-employment is the only way to have an economy where people get compensated fairly for the value of their work.
Unfortunately, the generation of politicians after Lincoln allowed the capitalists who took advantage of Lincoln's "free labor" system to pull the ladder up behind them then the next generation (the "Progressives") decided big business was "inevitable" and just needed to be regulated so it didn't become a monopoly that cheated consumers. The generation after that allowed the workers to form unions which could bargain for something resembling what they were worth which worked fairly well for a generation until it was dismantled as the "solution" to an inflation crisis caused by US foreign policy and US environmental policy (I'm referring to the 1970s inflation crisis, not the current one that has the same causes).
Tech is one of the few places in the American economy where the true American Dream of financial independence and self employment is still accessible even if you weren't born a millionaire and you don't win a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot. But there is a fair question of how much longer it will be until FAANG and/or government regulation to "rein in Big Tech" pulls that ladder up like all of the previous ladders have been pulled up by big business and/or its allies in big government who pretend to be its enemies.
I never implied that transactions are one-sided. Accepting employment is beneficial to the employee, in our current economy. If you attempt to start your own business without sufficient capital (in the form of savings, outside investment or loans), you will go bankrupt before you can turn a profit because it costs money to live and because there are startup costs for a new business that must be paid before you turn a profit. But if you accept employment at the market rate (which is always less than the amount of wealth your labor creates or you probably won't be able to find an employer), you are typically paid within a few weeks with few or no upfront costs which matters if you aren't already financially independent.
The main reason why the Wagner Act was passed into US federal law as part of FDR's New Deal was because FDR believed the Great Depression had been caused by low wages. Specifically, lack of purchasing power on the part of working people due to low wages was and is widely considered a major cause of the Depression. Allowing unions rather than suppressing them by state force or allowing corporations to suppress them by private force was seen as a way to stabilize the economy and increase the profitability of corporations by driving up wages which would actually help business because consumers would actually be able to afford their products.
Unfortunately, the generation of politicians after Lincoln allowed the capitalists who took advantage of Lincoln's "free labor" system to pull the ladder up behind them then the next generation (the "Progressives") decided big business was "inevitable" and just needed to be regulated so it didn't become a monopoly that cheated consumers. The generation after that allowed the workers to form unions which could bargain for something resembling what they were worth which worked fairly well for a generation until it was dismantled as the "solution" to an inflation crisis caused by US foreign policy and US environmental policy (I'm referring to the 1970s inflation crisis, not the current one that has the same causes).
Tech is one of the few places in the American economy where the true American Dream of financial independence and self employment is still accessible even if you weren't born a millionaire and you don't win a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot. But there is a fair question of how much longer it will be until FAANG and/or government regulation to "rein in Big Tech" pulls that ladder up like all of the previous ladders have been pulled up by big business and/or its allies in big government who pretend to be its enemies.