Without increasing the deficit. A small tax on unproductive, dangerous Wall Street speculation can generate the money needed to jump start a federally funded jobs program. Thereafter, we can hire more workers with increased revenues resulting from a stronger economy, as well as savings from reduced spending on unemployment insurance and food stamps.
Without increasing dependency on the government. We can't guarantee a job, but we can guarantee a job opportunity. Some people will choose not to work (for various reasons) and others won't show up on time and work hard (and should be fired). But those individuals are few, and they can make it on their own or with other sources of support, including private charity.
Without creating "make work" jobs. Almost everyone wants to work and has some useful skill. We can hire the unemployed and give them on-the-job training if needed to rebuild our infrastructure and meet neglected social and environmental needs. They can provide after-school recreation, make park improvements, help clean up the environment, and serve as nursing home staff, in-home caregivers, teacher aides, and substance abuse counselors.
By affirming a "mixed economy." Some ideologues always attack capitalism and promote government programs. Others always attack the government and promote capitalism. But most Americans recognize that we need a mixed economy, with both a strong government and a vigorous free market. Sending federal money to hire workers to meet needs that the private sector cannot meet (because there's no profit in it) is an example of the common sense pragmatism we need.
COMPASSION
Most individuals could do more to improve their situation. Self-improvement is valuable and needs to be supported. But if every unemployed person redoubled their efforts to become more employable, there still wouldn't be enough jobs to go around. And most people can't start a new business on their own. The jobs market is like a game of musical chairs. So long as there aren't enough jobs, workers are going to be unjustifiably unemployed.
Some people believe that unskilled workers 18 or over don't deserve a living wage (current law establishes a "youth minimum wage" that treats 16- and 17-year-old workers differently). They say these workers need to gain experience and boost their skills before they can expect to earn more. And some people believe that being forced to work at poverty-level wages and face the threat of homelessness serves to motivate people to strengthen their skills.
But opening this door is dangerous. Once opened, it can easily be opened ever wider -- as is happening now with our shrinking middle class. And even with a minimal living wage, most workers will still be motivated to improve their situation by enhancing their skills.
Every adult who holds down a job should earn enough to make ends meet at a minimally decent level. No human being should be considered disposable and lose the freedom to fulfill their potential. Moreover, the threat of poverty constrains everyone's liberty, if only because when we see others being oppressed and we have a heart, we are compelled to try to help eliminate that oppression. So long as one of us is not free, none of us are free.
We don't like to see homeless people and beggars on the street. It gnaws at our conscience, making us wonder whether we should be doing more to help. But let's not relieve our conscience by blaming the victims of our economy and yelling, "Go get a job." With Jesus, let's love our neighbor as we love ourselves. With Buddha, let's avoid both self-sacrifice and selfishness.
FOCUS ON MORALITY
Securing the human right to a living-wage job opportunity is a moral imperative. Achieving that goal should be the fundamental purpose of our economy.
If even one person can't find a living-wage job quickly, it's a moral outrage. Activists in the full employment movement need to hammer home that message consistently. Most Americans are moral people. They want to do what is right. Let's tap our deep moral sense and encourage one another to fulfill our true nature as compassionate human beings.
It's easy to get wrapped in up facts, figures, history, policy debates, and speculations about the future. But the eyes of most people glaze over when confronted with all those statistics and theoretical arguments.
Let's focus instead on the moral issue. We are obligated as a human community to make sure that every adult among us who is able and willing to work has the opportunity to earn enough to make ends meet at a minimally decent level.
Let's build strong, clear support for that position and persuade those with the ability to do so to achieve that goal. We don't have to agree on exactly how to do it. The experts can figure that out. What we ordinary people need to do is monitor whether or not our society has secured for everyone the human right to a living-wage job opportunity. Until they do, we need to keep pressuring key decision-makers to do it.
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