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A Commentary on Caring for the Unemployed

by Jim Wallis 09-07-2010 | 12:30pm
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One of my Saturday morning rituals is to listen to NPR's Weekend Edition, hosted by my friend Scott Simon, during my morning work out. Scott's commentaries are always worth listening to, and the one this past Saturday was especially poignant given the economy and continuing high unemployment this Labor Day weekend.

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Scott talked about what it feels like to not have a job based on his conversations with people who are unemployed. He captured the loneliness, despair, and even sense of failure that people often experience -- even when their joblessness is not their fault. The commentary was not only insightful, but very pastoral in spiritual terms and may give us some direction for a ministry of caring for unemployed and under-employed people over the long haul -- which is what we now seem to be up against. Take a listen by clicking here, or you can read the transcript below:

"On this Labor Day weekend, we might give some thought to what it's like to be without a job. About 1 in every 10 Americans - 15 million, the population of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago combined - doesn't have a job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are 3 million more who have just stopped looking for jobs after a year because they can't find one.

Having no job does not mean having no work. Your children must still be fed, bathed and ferried to school, which is a lot of hard work. But you have less money for food, gas and the new shoes your children need for school.

It means that if you have a toothache, you might pretend it will go away, until it becomes a sharp pain. Then you have to see a dentist, but may not be able to buy a new winter coat."

(Click here to continue reading.)

portrait-jim-wallisJim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street -- A Moral Compass for the New Economy, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs at www.godspolitics.com.


<strong><img title="portrait-jim-wallis" src="/sites/default/files/images/portrait-jim-wallis.jpg" alt="portrait-jim-wallis" width="60" height="73" /><em>Jim Wallis</em></strong><em> is the author of </em><a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=special.RV&amp;item=RV_order">Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street -- A Moral Compass for the New Economy</a><em>, and CEO of </em><a href="http://www.sojo.net/">Sojourners</a><em>. He blogs at </em><a href="http://www.godspolitics.com/"><em>www.godspolitics.com</em></a><em>.</em>
<strong><a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.subscribe&amp;source=web_blog_content">+Click here to get e-mail updates from Jim Wallis</a></strong>

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by: Ankaboot

09-07-2010 @ 11:58pm

Having no job does not mean having no work. Your children must still be fed, bathed and ferried to school, which is a lot of hard work. But you have less money for food, gas and the new shoes your children need for school.

It means that if you have a toothache, you might pretend it will go away, until it becomes a sharp pain. Then you have to see a dentist, but may not be able to buy a new winter coat.

This is also the plight of the working poor. Affluence creates poverty: as affluence grows, prices rise, and wages do not rise with them. Some are unable to keep up. There will always be "the poor," which is always a relative measure.

Muslims spend one fortieth of the value of their working capital assets that support them, which sometimes means one-fortieth of their net earnings when the "capital" they have is themselves and their skills, into a "Zakat" fund that capitalizes new entrepreneurs, supports the destitute, accommodates pilgrims and other travelers, finances education, subsidizes medical care, and funds other public services, for all people.

"Jizyah," paid by other religious communities, is a military tax, for defense. Where no defense is needed, or is provided by the religious community's forces, there is no "jizyah" ~ and what is collected can only be spent on those religious communities that pay it, it cannot be merged into a "general fund" as happens to our Social Security trust fund.

Zakat ~ recirculation of capital ~ is what eliminates the primary flaw of private enterprise free market capitalism, the migration of the commonwealth into the hands of a few atop the economic pyramid, engendering corrosion of the economic order at the bottom and on the fringes. Without that movement to the bottom, a capital economy will always yield what we're seeing today in America, cycles of boom and bust, inflation, recession, and depression.

It needs to be done on the local level, with excess moved upward in the federation of ethnic or religious localities for redistribution elsewhere. The first priority is providing opportunities for people to be productive.

by: Ankaboot

09-07-2010 @ 11:58pm

Having no job does not mean having no work. Your children must still be fed, bathed and ferried to school, which is a lot of hard work. But you have less money for food, gas and the new shoes your children need for school.

It means that if you have a toothache, you might pretend it will go away, until it becomes a sharp pain. Then you have to see a dentist, but may not be able to buy a new winter coat.

This is also the plight of the working poor. Affluence creates poverty: as affluence grows, prices rise, and wages do not rise with them. Some are unable to keep up. There will always be "the poor," which is always a relative measure.

Muslims spend one fortieth of the value of their working capital assets that support them, which sometimes means one-fortieth of their net earnings when the "capital" they have is themselves and their skills, into a "Zakat" fund that capitalizes new entrepreneurs, supports the destitute, accommodates pilgrims and other travelers, finances education, subsidizes medical care, and funds other public services, for all people.

"Jizyah," paid by other religious communities, is a military tax, for defense. Where no defense is needed, or is provided by the religious community's forces, there is no "jizyah" ~ and what is collected can only be spent on those religious communities that pay it, it cannot be merged into a "general fund" as happens to our Social Security trust fund.

Zakat ~ recirculation of capital ~ is what eliminates the primary flaw of private enterprise free market capitalism, the migration of the commonwealth into the hands of a few atop the economic pyramid, engendering corrosion of the economic order at the bottom and on the fringes. Without that movement to the bottom, a capital economy will always yield what we're seeing today in America, cycles of boom and bust, inflation, recession, and depression.

It needs to be done on the local level, with excess moved upward in the federation of ethnic or religious localities for redistribution elsewhere. The first priority is providing opportunities for people to be productive.

by: lebronjames

09-14-2010 @ 4:23pm

Do you mind if I use an excerpt of this for an article I am writing? I will provide a link back and full credit.

by: lebronjames

09-14-2010 @ 4:23pm

Do you mind if I use an excerpt of this for an article I am writing? I will provide a link back and full credit.

by: Cleaning Services

09-13-2010 @ 2:34pm

I've been there, and it certainly is tough.

by: Cleaning Services

09-13-2010 @ 2:34pm

I've been there, and it certainly is tough.

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by: Ankaboot

09-07-2010 @ 11:58pm

Having no job does not mean having no work. Your children must still be fed, bathed and ferried to school, which is a lot of hard work. But you have less money for food, gas and the new shoes your children need for school.

It means that if you have a toothache, you might pretend it will go away, until it becomes a sharp pain. Then you have to see a dentist, but may not be able to buy a new winter coat.

This is also the plight of the working poor. Affluence creates poverty: as affluence grows, prices rise, and wages do not rise with them. Some are unable to keep up. There will always be "the poor," which is always a relative measure.

Muslims spend one fortieth of the value of their working capital assets that support them, which sometimes means one-fortieth of their net earnings when the "capital" they have is themselves and their skills, into a "Zakat" fund that capitalizes new entrepreneurs, supports the destitute, accommodates pilgrims and other travelers, finances education, subsidizes medical care, and funds other public services, for all people.

"Jizyah," paid by other religious communities, is a military tax, for defense. Where no defense is needed, or is provided by the religious community's forces, there is no "jizyah" ~ and what is collected can only be spent on those religious communities that pay it, it cannot be merged into a "general fund" as happens to our Social Security trust fund.

Zakat ~ recirculation of capital ~ is what eliminates the primary flaw of private enterprise free market capitalism, the migration of the commonwealth into the hands of a few atop the economic pyramid, engendering corrosion of the economic order at the bottom and on the fringes. Without that movement to the bottom, a capital economy will always yield what we're seeing today in America, cycles of boom and bust, inflation, recession, and depression.

It needs to be done on the local level, with excess moved upward in the federation of ethnic or religious localities for redistribution elsewhere. The first priority is providing opportunities for people to be productive.

by: Ankaboot

09-07-2010 @ 11:58pm

Having no job does not mean having no work. Your children must still be fed, bathed and ferried to school, which is a lot of hard work. But you have less money for food, gas and the new shoes your children need for school.

It means that if you have a toothache, you might pretend it will go away, until it becomes a sharp pain. Then you have to see a dentist, but may not be able to buy a new winter coat.

This is also the plight of the working poor. Affluence creates poverty: as affluence grows, prices rise, and wages do not rise with them. Some are unable to keep up. There will always be "the poor," which is always a relative measure.

Muslims spend one fortieth of the value of their working capital assets that support them, which sometimes means one-fortieth of their net earnings when the "capital" they have is themselves and their skills, into a "Zakat" fund that capitalizes new entrepreneurs, supports the destitute, accommodates pilgrims and other travelers, finances education, subsidizes medical care, and funds other public services, for all people.

"Jizyah," paid by other religious communities, is a military tax, for defense. Where no defense is needed, or is provided by the religious community's forces, there is no "jizyah" ~ and what is collected can only be spent on those religious communities that pay it, it cannot be merged into a "general fund" as happens to our Social Security trust fund.

Zakat ~ recirculation of capital ~ is what eliminates the primary flaw of private enterprise free market capitalism, the migration of the commonwealth into the hands of a few atop the economic pyramid, engendering corrosion of the economic order at the bottom and on the fringes. Without that movement to the bottom, a capital economy will always yield what we're seeing today in America, cycles of boom and bust, inflation, recession, and depression.

It needs to be done on the local level, with excess moved upward in the federation of ethnic or religious localities for redistribution elsewhere. The first priority is providing opportunities for people to be productive.

by: Cleaning Services

09-13-2010 @ 2:34pm

I've been there, and it certainly is tough.

by: Cleaning Services

09-13-2010 @ 2:34pm

I've been there, and it certainly is tough.

by: lebronjames

09-14-2010 @ 4:23pm

Do you mind if I use an excerpt of this for an article I am writing? I will provide a link back and full credit.

by: lebronjames

09-14-2010 @ 4:23pm

Do you mind if I use an excerpt of this for an article I am writing? I will provide a link back and full credit.