Unemployment

America was built on the dream of 0% unemployment. Back in Europe, there was no land that didn't already belong to someone, someone who was a lot richer and a lot more powerful than the people who moved across the Atlantic. In America, the government was practically giving away land to whoever wanted it. If you lost your job, fell out with your neighbors, broke the law, or just felt like a change, you could always pick up and move to the frontier. If you wanted to work and provide for your family, chances were high that, with a bit of hard work and ingenuity, you would succeed: clear some land, build a cabin, do a little farming, hunt... we've all played Oregon Trail.

But, somewhat ironically, by trying to escape the strict delimitation of land into parcels of private property in overcrowded Europe, the settlers brought that model to America, not unlike the various pests, rodents, and diseases that hitched a ride on the boats. Two centuries later and we have to dramatically rethink what the United States represents. Everywhere you look, everything you look at belongs to someone. If you can't find work, you can't just move west and start over. Sure you can still try, but if you think unemployment is a problem in New York, have fun in California!

So what is someone who can't find a job and doesn't own any land to grow food on supposed to do? These days America is a lot more like the Europe our ancestors were so fed up with: all the land is claimed, we have high, chronic unemployment and, increasingly, an underclass of people with nowhere to turn. Most importantly, people have less say over the course of their lives. 99.99% of us worked just as hard on Friday as we will on Monday, but because the US debt credit rating was downgraded, the stock market will probably crash on Monday and many of us will have to face pink slips in the coming weeks. And we can't help but wonder, what does this credit rating have to do with us?

Despite the fact that we have less control of the direction our lives will take than previous generations, we still have it ingrained in our political conscious that people who work hard in America will be able to find a job, have a house and maybe some land, and pursue the American dream. Just give people enough freedom and independence and they'll figure things out for themselves. We don't hear that argument now so much as it's reverse: if you're poor and/or unemployed, it's because you're lazy, lack talents that will make you employable, and have no motivation. I've heard this lobbed at women who work all day, then come home to care for their children; I've heard it lobbed at recent graduates who thought that, to be successful, all they had to do was go to a good university and get good grades; I've heard it lobbed at men who have such tough callouses that you're liable to get cut if you shake their hands. It's not just insulting nonsense, it's insulting nonsense that prevents us as a nation from addressing our problems, because let's face it, the first step to taking action is admitting that there is a problem and that not everything can be boiled down to the personal irresponsibility of the millions of people suffering economically right now.

If you look at North Africa, Greece, Spain, Israel, France, or Chile right now, you see educated young people getting frustrated that no matter how hard they work, the economic situation prevents them from succeeding in life. They've taken to the streets to demand their governments focus on jobs, not debt. But this isn't happening in the US yet. There are hardly any protests; young people aren't banding together to talk about these issues and make a plan for action. Instead, we're letting the older generations who already have jobs and houses tell us that we're lazy and apathetic, and so far we seem to be believing it. But there's some good news: up until recently the same thing was said about the people our age in Chile, Spain, and many other places. Almost overnight, young people decided they'd had enough. In Israel they are angry they can't find apartments, in Spain they want jobs, in Chile they want education reforms, in Syria they demand political freedoms and economic reforms, and at much greater risk than we would face if we picket Congress! The Tunisian youth let out a cry that has spread across the Mediterranean into Western Europe and Chile, it's time the young people of America add our voices to the chanting of our peers around the world demanding the most basic of human rights: a place to live and some work to do to help our families!

What is wrong with a society that, the people cry out, "We want jobs! We want to contribute to our societies and build a better tomorrow!" And the governments respond, "No!" like the guard at the door in Kafka's story. Shouldn't our governments and elders be praising us for wanting to work, for wanting to contribute something to society?

We have a right to work, a duty to work, a burning need to work, and if the free market can't keep employment at 100%, then our governments have a responsibility to step in and make sure that everyone who wants a job gets one. When the government did this in the New Deal, it jump started the economy and resulted in some major, lasting improvements in the nation's infrastructures and national parks which we still benefit from today. What are we waiting for? Let's demand the same for our unemployed friends and family!