What would you do if you lost your job today? Would your savings and assets hold you through hard times? Is a six-month financial reserve big enough to maintain your housing, food, shelter and transportation expenses? Today the average unemployed person is out of work for 29 weeks, an increase from an average 16.5 weeks just two years ago.
How would you survive for 29 weeks? What would you do? When unemployment pays an unexpected visit, most folks hit the ground running, whipping their resume into shape, pounding the pavements looking for work to keep money flowing until one's real job comes into focus. Folks will call family, friends and networks knowing that it's who you know that will get you past the long and growing line of others just like you looking for work.
How long is that line? Official statistics claim around 10 percent of the workforce is unemployed. The truth, after one counts those that have given up looking for work or are stuck in part-time work, is closer to 17% of the workforce. Indeed, the recession that momentarily hit Wall Street is a Great Depression for those living in the residential areas behind Main Street.
So what do you do after a month of looking for work? Do you go and flip burgers for minimum wage? Do you hang out at day-labor offices? What do you do after two months? What happens to your psyche? What happens to your marriage? What happens when your kid needs a new pair of shoes? What happens after four months?
What happens when you run out of ideas and places to send your resume? What happens when you are filling out applications against competition from 16-year-olds? After five months how will you be holding up? How's your spirit? Can you look at your spouse with pride; does your spouse still look at you with respect? When's the last time you kicked back and laughed, howling at the moon and rejoicing that life is good? And where, in these sorrows, is hope?
After six months let's say you get a nibble, but whom will the employer hire: the fresh face looking for entry into the labor pool, or the one who hasn't worked in half a year? The trends are scary. The trends reveal that we are stuck in an economy of a permanent underclass, perpetual employment insecurity and a collapse of cultural morale.
Where do you go for support? Who really has your back? Who really cares for you, long term, in season and out? Now that the unions are crushed, now that political parties are united under corporate control, now that churches offer therapy but not justice, now that families are strained and networks stretched.
Now that I have your attention, maybe now we can start the strategy sessions for revolution. Maybe now God is calling for an exodus from empire.