20160402 (unemployed)

Read this when first published. Wrote about it in the church
newsletter. Talked it up with everyone I met. Donated it to our
church library. Haven't heard a word about it since. Professor
Wilson makes the point that between racism, automation, and
globalization, the US has created systemic unemployment and
will need a Marshall plan to help its own citizens recover.

Fortunately I have not much

History as unemployed, so I

May be radically wrong in 

Speculating about its meaning

To people in our society who 

Are chronically unemployed

Or under-employed. Supposedly

We now have a lower rate of

Unemployed than we did in 

The early years of the Obama

Administration. Yet many

Dissenters cite the problems

With this statistic. Apparently

If someone has been without 

A job for an extended period

And has ceased looking for

Work, that person no longer

Figures into the stats. That

Disappearance cleverly reduces

The unemployment rate in

That it removes one number 

From the both the enumerator

And the denominator yielding

A lower rate without an increase

In jobs. So if there are many 

Such instances as I believe 

There are, actual unemployment

May be significantly higher.

Another troubling aspect is

That the jobs replacing those

That are lost typically pay

Considerably less, which

Reduces overall demand. 

Job losses today have little 

To do with “cause”—firing—

And everything to do with

Outsourcing, automation,

Downsizing (generally seen

As placing the same load

On fewer backs). Many an

Annual review conversation

Ends, “Your Bonus (or raise)

For this year is that you still

Have a job—maybe not the 

One you’ve been working, 

But you’ll have a place in 

The system.” People who

Actually get a pink slip 

(Discharge not lingerie)

Initially feel reduced in 

Value: “I’m not needed.”

If they search in a period

Of general reduction, as in

Recessions or total economic 

Collapse, they will likely not

Find a position to replace the 

Earnings they have lost, and

That feeling of valuelessness

Will be reinforced at each refusal.

Had they so much talent they

Could easily weather a job search 

It’s likely they would never 

Have suffered in the first place,

And would instead be the ones 

Accelerating up the company

Ladder or jumping ship to

A better position elsewhere.

So many are not stars but

Still competent people to 

Whom society says “No.”

What then of the less than 

Star quality—of the much less

Than star quality? To me such

A condition in the market system 

Becomes “economic cleansing,"

Stating to people, “You are not

Wanted, nor will you ever be 

Recognized as a potentially

Contributing member. And 

We’re not going to do anything 

To change that.” May God 

Have mercy on our souls for

Tolerating such destruction

Of His children.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016