Every morning I read the daily entry in 'Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.' The prayer for this morning goes like this:
"God, you call us to walk alongside the poor, all the while reminding us of our own poverty in spirit. Grant us courage to cry out against injustice. Grant us burdened hearts that ache to see the enemies of hunger, violence, and economic injustice scattered."
How does that strike you? How do you feel about the poor? Perhaps more importantly, how do you think Jesus feels about the poor? And what of the Christian response?
Bringing it a little closer to our times today... What do you think of the current unemployment crisis? It's a bit different than most times because there are so many unemployed, but also so many jobs available.
Of course, many people feel the problem is a result of unemployment benefits being too high. On the other hand, many believe this to be the consequence of greed finally catching up with capitalism. People are tired of being treated as mere commodities.
Sometimes things just aren't as simple as 'if you want money, then get a job.' At least I don't think so.
I recently read this insightful article "The 'Capitalism is Broken' Economy." You really need to read the whole thing, but here are some snippets that stuck out to me:
"Stick with me here, but what if people weren’t lazy — and instead, for the first time in a long time, were able to say no to exploitative working conditions and poverty-level wages? And what if business owners are scandalized, dismayed, frustrated, or bewildered by this scenario because their pre-pandemic business models were predicated on a steady stream of non-unionized labor with no other options? It’s not the labor force that’s breaking. It’s the economic model.
Unemployment benefits have offered a steady paycheck while you figure out your options. Put differently: a version of the safety net that’s been missing from most American employment, and, by extension, the ability to say no. No, I don’t have to work for a restaurant that only gives me my hours three days ahead of time, thus making it nearly impossible to find reliable childcare. No, I don’t have to work clopen shifts. No, I don’t have to expect a job without sick leave or paid time off. No, I don’t have to deal with asshole customers or managers who degrade me without consequence. No, I don’t have to work in a job with significant, accumulating health risks.
It’s about the money, but it’s more than that..."
They touch on the YOLO mindset too (you only live once), and then close with this punch:
"Refusing to prostrate yourself on the wheel of work is not a failure. Nor is it self-care — at least not in the narrow, individualistic way we conceive of it. It can be a means of advocating for yourself, but also your peers, your family, even your children. But here’s the thing about a reshuffle: you’re still playing with the same deck of cards, and the game of American capitalism is still rigged against the worker. Which is why business models in everything from tourism to early childhood care need to be fundamentally reconceived — and built in a way that doesn’t hinge on workers making poverty-level wages.
We should ask ourselves, our communities, and our government: if a business can’t pay a living wage, should it be a business? If it’s too expensive for businesses to provide healthcare for their workers, maybe we need to decouple it from employment? If childcare is a market failure, but we need childcare for the economy to work, how can the government build that infrastructure? If the pay you provide workers doesn’t allow them to live in the community, what needs to change? Collectively, we should be thinking of different funding models, different ownership scenarios, and different growth imperatives. Failure to do so is simply resigning ourselves to another round of this rigged game.
Yeah, there's a lot to process in that article. And, mind you, speaking out against the evils of capitalism is not the same as being against democracy. They are different animals altogether.
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Another interesting piece in a similar vein is this: "Low-Skill Workers Aren't A Problem To Be Fixed." I won't get into it too much, but it's a good article to pair with the other. It's not that 'work' is bad, but maybe the way we view different jobs is part of the problem/solution. Jobs don't, in and of themselves, need to be bad. And we can treat ALL workers with dignity (hmm, maybe even non-workers).
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I don't know... I spent some time the other day trying to explain to my young co-worker the difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire. We both make around $10/hour, and neither of us can even fathom a million dollars. Trying to imagine that a thousand times over... is truly mind-bloggling.
Make no mistake, I believe wealth, greed, power, and control are anti-Christlike values. But there are no easy solutions, and I don't know the first thing about how to address them on a national or worldwide scale.
About all I can ask is... What do you think Jesus would have you do (and me)? What makes your heart ache? What makes you most upset about current events? Do you think it's the same thing that upsets Jesus?
This is big stuff. All I can think to do is lay it out there... and ask God for guidance. "Where should I start, Lord?" "Where do I fit into this?"
... I'm waiting.
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"They only asked us to remember the poor, and that was something I had always been eager to do." - Galatians 2:10
