If one is gainfully employed and has not really encountered substantial problems in that regard, they might also feel free to say, "Markets don't really work". One might even voice such an opinion with an air of certain knowing and a nice dollop of closed mind. Forgive me but I'm a bit sensitive in this regard as I've not had traditional employment for some time. Therefore, I would have to reply that such a confident phrase is true indulgence, quite as rich as an entire box of chocolates in one sitting. Yes there's always government in lieu of the marketplace I suppose, but the last time I took a government job, I had to pay more than $1000 to get it (yes, here in the U.S. back in the nineties) and no one gave it a lot of thought when I was only able to keep the position for seven months.
Here's the part the gainfully employed might not realize (oh if you could walk a mile in an unemployed person's shoes). Think about how valuable your time is, and the choices in life your job gives you, which you understandably take for granted. Family - friends - you give them your time when you can but that is basically your choice. You can be as sympathetic and understanding as you like, but generally (except for special situations) on your own time, which is as it should be. Indeed many of us in the U.S. were raised to believe that we needed to be frugal with our time because, in spite of other resources we might have access to, we all have the same amount of time. And no amount of money in the world will ever change that.
So every minute we devote to something is a minute we can't devote to something else. Most anyone who is gainfully employed gets that. The problems come in for those who are no longer gainfully employed, and some vital aspect of this once valuable time gets lost in translation. Yes, our time factor hasn't changed, but the fact that our level of potential responsibility has, tends to make others think about us differently. Lack of money means lack of mobility and flexibility. So what had been spontaneous time spent with people of one's choosing may become an all or nothing proposition, depending on the luck of the draw. Okay...my liberal friends, this is the part of the path where you have doubtless wanted to turn and go another way. I implore you to travel with me a little further, to see what lies ahead...
What happens now? For awhile everything may be fine as sympathetic understanding rules the day. But before too long, someone feels like a burden and someone feels put upon. If someone isn't chucked out the door there are always reasons for that too, especially if someone is needy but they have little to gain from admitting it. Whatever happens, chances are the relationships start to solidify into circumstance where mutual respect and reciprocity become lost, because all participants are beaten down by the stunted circumstance. People we really cared about become the enemy, because we have lost our freedom in the ways we relate with them.
Anytime anyone hears me utter the word freedom in the future, now you know what lies behind it. Freedom is not some abstract thing I utter as to God and country, it is the stuff of life that every one of us, whatever our political or ideological leanings, hold most dear. And, my friend - from now on - please, I implore you not to forget what makes our treasured choices possible, the ones that allow us to present our "good side" to the world so as to make it better: economic freedom.
We are the ones who make markets work. Not some abstract power figure or even Wall Street for that matter. If we choose not to make markets work, well then yes the original platitude was "right" but that is nothing to be proud of, I guarantee you. Now, what about that time we all hold in common? It is our time that makes us equal, in spite of our many differences in aptitude and motivation. Again I implore you, if you care about equality, never forget the scarcity of our individual time. We make it count by understanding that even though most economic activity happens at the margin, no such thing is true of our time, which matters everywhere. We need every bit of it to count, when we consider how to recreate services so that all can participate and be responsible for their needs. Appeals to government as solution do not provide us economic access. Appeals to raise the minimum wage do not provide economic access. We provide economic access for one another by validating the right of each and every one of us to participate fully in our dreams, our aspirations, and our responsibilities.
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