The Joy of Having a Job

A better title for today's blog might be "The Joy of Having Wealth," because without a job and regular income, from what I read and understand about life, there's little joy in being an American (or other nationality?). "Baha'u'llah has written that, '. . . He who is the Eternal Truth -- exalted be His glory -- hath made the fulfillment of every undertaking on earth dependent on material means.'" (Source: UHJ Letter Sept. 17, 1992) His son, 'Abdu'l-Baha has also written. "Man should know his own self, and those things which lead to loftiness or baseness, to shame or to honor, to affluence or to poverty. After man has realized his own being and become mature, then for him wealth (or recompense) is needed. If this wealth is acquired through a craft or profession, it is approvable." (Source: Art of Divine Living)  Everyone needs a job; worthwhile employment; income.

That to me is the number one issue facing not just Americans, but all peoples and governments. so obvious now since the economic recession (depression?) that began 2007-2008. Look at Greece, Spain, the European Union and others. High unemployment rates. We survived because we had the Troubled Asset Relief Program. You don't hear that phrase often, only "TARP" which has been spun a hundred ways, mostly negatively. The law was signed by President Bush no less. So TARP failure is just not true, altho I agree with critics that banking criminals should have been prosecuted as well for their frivolous and careless (and greedy) ways.

What's the labor department doing to create jobs? That should be where we put our efforts -- locally (yes -- its number one on munis minds and programs), statewide, nationally, and internationally. We have the IMF. How about the IJF? (International Jobs Fund) or IJB? (International Jobs Bank). There's private sites that do this now, afforded by companies who pay a head hunter to get just the right candidates for them, and sometimes by the candidates themselves. I wouldn't mind paying something from my first bi-weekly paycheck if someone helped me land a decent job . . . .

I started working the summer of 1965. Getting a job was not just easy, it was guaranteed. The newspapers had all the job announcements (no more). So I applied and got a job selling magazines door to door, part subject in my book Work of ABLiA. At the end of the summer, a State labor Department rep came to our house, interviewed me, and sent me a check for $30 for unpaid wages. The company I worked for had skipped town with all the funds they conned out of innocent subscribers, mostly the elderly. I had no idea; it seemed perfectly legit. But I had performed, and others, in good faith. Now there's a social program for you, getting unpaid wages. Yet we encourage and allow U.S. companies to pay their overseas workers pennies a day. And restaurants pay their waiters and waitresses around $2.25 an hour. But that's another blog.

I didn't know in May 1970 that I was beginning a 39 year career with the Treasury Department, but jobs for life then were common. No more. Why not? Because we allow companies to move jobs overseas, and to mostly hire part time workers to the detriment of them and their families. Why? One reason is that our corp business tax is at 35%, while most of the world is at 25%. Why not just standardize all countries at 25%, and change it by universal, majority vote? No, national sovereignty prevents that. Well, someday we won't have that problem. The barriers to true progress will be thrown away with all our other outworn shibboleths.

Also, we lose good workers when we do have them because we don't provide decent career paths, and no incentives, like the bonuses Wall Street fat cats get. (Note that the best companies don''t have these problems, having low turnover rates.) Of course that's oversimplified, but true enough. All these issues have solutions if we would just work towards them cooperatively and collaboratively. Consultation and principle are the ways to solve issues like this. That's why I applaud profit-sharing companies -- the wave of the future.

So, being mentally ill, yet being able to hold down a good job, with good medical and mental health benefits, among other things, did, in my opinion, make me a productive and contributing American citizen. And my jobs, like tarring roofs, or being a stock clerk, or a manager funneling millions of dollars to vendors, gave me a sense of self-worth and self-esteem. I took pride in my work, and they taught me it was easier to get cooperation, and save the State millions of dollars, thru agreement rather than pushing for my own way all the time.

A job. Jobs, jobs, jobs. They help make America as great as it is, and me. 

By Rodney Richards, NJ