Keywords and Terms:
Unemployment Compensation; Cyclical; Relational; Disillusionment; Stigma Disenfranchisement,
Congress, Free-Market Enterprise, Corporate America; Re-engineering; Mental
Health Raved Homes; Coding and Algorithm; Machine Power; Globalization; Off-shoring; Change
I am confused; not so much about what is broken in American
Politics; but, about what is fixable but which congress has paid little attention. The phenomenal perennial unemployment problem that
characterize the free market economy continues to ravage many American homes.
The recurrent nature of unemployment in the free market economy has made some economists
diagnose this problem as endemic of capitalism; and somewhat, relational. To
the untrained mind, the question is: what does cyclical or relational mean? In a
lay man’s mind, cyclical means occurs every now and then or ever so often; some
say every ten years, others claim five years. Relational, in the construct of
an economist: unemployment and inflation are inverse variables. Simply put:
when inflation is down, unemployment is often up. Depending on what data is
used, unemployment continues to be a handicap to a completely free market economy;
and the conventional approach of addressing the unemployment problem has
woefully failed with globalization and hyperventilating revolutionary advances
in Information Technology.
The social
implication of unemployment has been damaging: broken marriages and families, increasing
mental health issues, domestic violence, drug use and college dropout,
disenfranchisement and disillusionment and much more! Call them what you may,
the devastating impact on American life, especially among the middle income
group, has been horrendous. The stigma of waiting on unemployment line, food
bank rotational roasters and public health services has promoted many
stereotypes; a few of which has been used by politicians to ride into office.
How about the slogan: Washington is broken and is going to fix it? Did anyone
in congress do anything significant lately in solving America's unemployment problem
except to fight over whether to extend unemployment compensation to the
long-term unemployed? Did any of our
lawmakers contemplate a fresher look at the problem of unemployment rather than
fight over the impact of unemployment compensation on the nation’s budget? Your answers
to these questions are as good as mine. Interestingly or shamefully, the helplessness
of the devastation of associated problem of unemployment on our neighborhoods
has made a few of us in policy making, wonder: what in the world are we doing
calling ourselves policymakers, when we cannot solve a problem that has, and
continues to ravage American homes. Americans deserve answers to the cyclical problem
of unemployment and men and women in United States Congress cannot continue to
use the unemployment compensation issue as ping-pong to rising into office; or, humiliating
another 40 million of our citizens, who for other reasons, may not have been
victim of laziness. The downturn or stigma of not having enough education hardly suffice these days, where the labor force is rapidly being ravished by advances in information technology; and the odds of holding on to your job is partly determined by how quickly advances in information technology impacts your occupation.
Loss of self is professed by psychologists as the core
component of schizophrenia. Many unemployed have identified with loss of self
as a component of depression that they find themselves, after a loss of job or
being unemployed for far too long. No one is adducing unemployment to schizophrenia
or using the term, economic schizophrenia; however, unemployment schizophrenia
is not far away from the question. Maybe that is why I am simply saying, I am
confused. Confused in the context of being schizophrenic of unemployment
problem; yet convinced that as a nation, we have the wherewithal to solve this problem,
but has refused to do so for whatever reason. For many in the baby boomer generation,
if America can send a man to the moon, there is hardly any problem that she
cannot solve here on earth? When a neighbor of ours lost his home due to long
term unemployment last year, to say the least, I was very worried and terrified. Worried and terrified, because
I know many of us in the labor force are just a paycheck away from unemployment
psychosis or schizophrenia. A paycheck away from unemployment psychosis is as bad
as a paycheck away from mental health problems, seriously!
Taken together, unemployment and associated psychoses can
influence the state of mind and welfare of families, communities, state and nation.
To promote safety net in term of unemployment insurance checks is probably not
the complete answer to the unemployment problem. If it has been since FDR; that solution is
outdated; and what variables existed during the thirties and forties that led
to a prescription of this temporary solution as a panacea to unemployment, hardly
exists anymore. The characteristic nature of industrialization that led to
unemployment in the thirties and forties have taken a different shape or form because of
advances in information technology and globalization. It is time that we as a
nation take a deeper look at unemployment compensation; and seek to prescribe more evolutionary or attentive solution
to the cyclical unemployment problem, to forestall the ravages of unemployment psychosis. Advances in
information technology have revolutionized the way industries are ran and managed
by corporate executives. It is time for change, not only in the convoluted acceptance of unemployment
insurance as a temporary solution to unemployment problem; but rather, in terms
of the realities of advances in information technology and how it has sped up
production levels and allowed corporate America to make zillion of dollars,
while millions of Americans remain on the soup line. It is time to consider
other alternative solutions to unemployment insurance compensation as a way to
smitten temporarily associated problems of unemployment.
The known stereotypes of blaming Americans for being lazy,
looking too much for handouts or seeking easy access to services at the expense
of taxpayers or the national deficit, hardly hold anymore. Here are some
concrete eye opener: there are many more Americans between the ages of 24 and 62
who remain in long term unemployment, despite the fact that they own college
degrees; many more Americans are obtaining social security disability benefits
as a substitute for gainful employment, because they have remained unemployed
for far too long, despite active search; there are more significant proportion
of Americans who have lost their jobs because their kind of work has been
shipped overseas by corporate America, under the pretext that labor cost is exorbitant
if those goods are produced here; the rapid advances in information technology
have been at a growth pace never before imagined or contemplated, that in some
cases, many jobs have been killed and some professions obsolete because machine power
has practically taken over; the range of factors that had facilitated growth during the early era of
industrialization, are much different from those that we are seeing in the
information age.
Current research in the field of information technology is
suggestive that it is feasible for many more professions, going obsolete because
of coding and algorithm advances; and, the potential these technologies have in revolutionizing
efficiency of production and manufacturing, must never be underestimated. Current political regulations and
legislative constraints in some states have made it difficult for some recently laid-off
unemployed to retrain in other professions, because of the added costs. Worse still, some state governments are jostling and getting into tax-right-off competition for some Fortune 500 companies moving into their state, without imaging or imagining what depletion the move may have on the 'looser-state' labor force of the migrating corporation. Furthermore, some states are looking
at unemployment compensation from the prism of potential fraud, without
investigating alternatives to unemployment compensations as solution to
unemployment problems. Despite the ravages of unemployment on our neighborhoods, the
reality of machine power, consequence of increased production efficiency, is probably outstripping the management's ability to retain more on the job. Some might view the
increasing advances in information technology as needed energy for growth
without contemplating reforms to the old solution of unemployment compensation.
We beg to differ and are calling for visitation of a solution that is probably archaic
considering advances in information technology and how they are rapidly
changing the face of the economy.
It is important to understand that the nation cannot afford
to undermine the welfare of its people because of the failure to act; or, advances in one area of America's
economy, information technology. Whether we like it or not, the tsunami of
change that is coming to the production processes and the possible impact of
machine power taking over many more professions are real. It is time to start looking
at alternatives for many more Americans that will be turned out to pastures because
of advances in information technology. The fragments of disorder to human welfare
from threats of advances in information technology are potentially going to quadruple
in the coming years, as production processes continue to be stream lined with
advances in machine language and its ability to replace man in the labor force.
Change is here and its consequences are making old economics paradigm questionable,
if not on shaky grounds.
In this article, we have argued for new approaches to
solving the cyclical unemployment problem in America's Economy, absent the conventional
unemployment insurance payment to the long term unemployed. The serious threats
of machine power to the continued employment and welfare of many Americans are real.
Advances in computer coding and algorithm are going to bring a wave of change
that has the potential of eradicating many more professions and getting more Americans
out of work. The argument here is not to kill the machine or slow down pace of
how information technology is revolutionizing production processes or impacting
employment; rather, the argument is to find a newer solution to an old problem
that is not going to go away. We are suggesting that Congress revisit
unemployment compensation as a panacea to solving structural unemployment
problem, because the nature of the problem or factors that precipitate long term unemployment,
while still similar somewhat during the rapid industrialization of the forties,
fifties and sixties, are hardly the same, consequent from what we are
experiencing in the economy. The reasons for economic recession are compelling;
the revolutionary change from quadrupling advances in coding and algorithms are
even more compelling and the potential
they have in impacting long-term unemployment, deserve a second look. Adoption of newer solutions to
combating long term unemployment and practical solutions to shoring up
unemployment insurance are probably in order just, considering what is to come.
Before being labeled as an alarmist, it is imperative that
you look at the various illustrative examples of how people have lost their
jobs or been displaced or replaced by machines; or, how corporate decisions have
off-shored some production processes, vis-à-vis, jobs. The vexing problem of
unemployment is not going to go away by itself; and, the divided congress isn’t
affording a more concrete look at social welfare programs, not from the prism
of cost, but from a more holistic and practical way that may bring succor to
those who have lost their jobs and those about to. Corporate America would continue to look out
for its bottom line, just as it should rightly do; however, our government has
the obligation to remain the government of the people and by the people. For
this and other reasons, we are calling for a revisit of using unemployment
insurance compensation as the primordial solution to structural unemployment. In conclusion, we are suggesting that the
consideration of other methods of addressing structural and cyclical
unemployment, endemic of the free market economy, is evidential and not out of order,
considering the potential change around the corner. The alternative methods of
ameliorating unemployment problems will contribute newer knowledge to
understanding how to better address this nagging problem; and, significantly assist
American families through recovery of imminent unemployment and its associated problems.