To help pay for a kinder and gentler nation, all so-called career unemployed or unemployable would herewith be extinct. By virtue of this new definition all would be gainfully employed at an incremental rate above the poverty line in compliance with the degree to which the individual has dependents and responsibilities as determined by the Department of Labor. For minors who have dropped out of school, the low end of a variable minimum wage would suffice. By virtue of full employment, the homeless will have disappeared but for the professionals who have not enrolled in rehabs will have to rely on private charity soup kitchens and bedding.

As for the unwed teenage mother, she has the option of finishing school while her family guarantees caring for her child for whom they receive nothing but an additional dependent claim on the tax return. If the minor has no one, or the families of either side abandon her, she and her baby become wards of the state. In this scenario, the department of labor will work closely with the Justice Department in order to track down the irresponsible stud; if to no avail, the families will be subject to fines or garnishment. As ward of the state the young mother would be ordered back to school or to work until such time as she matures and fully prepares to set up a home for herself and child. In the meantime, she is restricted to a community home under auspices of the Labor department and supervised by professionals assisted by the "unemployable." If the minor resists this procedure, the local labor agency will again have social workers ready to arrange reconciliation with the family. If successful and the agency is satisfied that the minor and her child will be properly cared for at family expense, both will be released from state custody with a one-time token remuneration


For a mother of a newborn without child support or unwed, nineteen or over, the department will accommodate her in a community home designed for infant care. After one month of rehabilitation and caring for her own, she will then work at this home caring for other infants as well as her own. After three months, she will continue to live there but will be employed elsewhere unless the infant-home needs her. If after a year it turns out that the mother lacks the wherewithal, she will be encouraged to give up the child for adoption or temporary foster care, the latter not to exceed two more years while she tries to put her life back together. During which time her wages will be garnisheed at the rate of 25% to help in the costs of fostering the child. The older abandoned mother with toddlers and school-age children will nevertheless work and her children placed in day care and head start programs prior to school age and held till the mother finishes her work day. The schools also will arrange after school programs for the older children.


This proposed reform of the existing social program dealing with abandoned mothers could possibly cost more but for a shorter period. For, in the end, by putting mothers to work to flex self-responsibility, together with being in an environment where she could conceivably meet a man willing to take on some responsibility is the name of the game. Further, by transferring these deficiencies in the social structure to the labor department stresses that works, and possibly marriage, are the keys to success. Keep in mind, too, that food stamps would no longer apply, nor would housing assistance as outright cash. Also, remember, there is a tremendous general windfall by drastically reducing the need for unemployment insurance.


Moreover, as was discussed earlier regarding public spending, real costs are immeasurable because of the spin-off effect. Take as an example a community where there are a hundred abandoned mothers and there are two hundred children — required for child care would be a renovated building, forty employees, ten of which are either professional nurses or teachers, twenty-five are young mothers hired as professional assistants, and five in maintenance. With the exception, perhaps of a few of the professionals all are from the immediate neighborhood. The private sector and the local labor agency combined shell out in wages some $690,000, less tax. This amount is immediately consumed by purchases and services from the neighborhood in rent, clothes, food, etc. Add to this the wages of the hundred mothers, $1.25million. Out of this total of almost $2 million, a half million goes to the neighboring supermarkets that go a long way in new hiring or at least sustaining the markets' employment, which generates income tax and other local taxes, plus the supermarkets pay more sundry taxes, not to mention the centrifuge of additional gross profits for the suppliers of goods. Multiply this by 100 thousand new jobs in a dense neighborhood and soon there is a thriving billion-dollar economy in the neighborhood, touching landlords, merchants, drawing in trades and learning of new skills. Frustration is at a standstill; drugs and crime begin to fade.


The point of putting recipients of all kinds to work is obviously not only to give each his chance at self-reliance but for the government to acknowledge the pressing need for the supervising and caring for children, cleaning up and protecting the communities, and developing infrastructure projects. All this would be a mental block to the current majority inasmuch as the Republican posture is but negative demagoguery.


Now, where will all these jobs come from? The labor department will disburse funds approved by congress to local agencies as subsidies for community works and/or incentives for the private-sector to hire from the neighborhood. Once registered with the labor department, the downtrodden will never again be unemployed even if they have to settle for career temp work. Young males and females without children will always have the standing option to enter youth corps or enlist in the armed service.


The labor department will primarily be involved in searching for available jobs, and if necessary creating jobs and enlisting the skilled to supervise on the job training. Registrants with exceptional dexterity will be encouraged to enter technical schools after work to improve their lot and would be subject to withholding after six months to pay the interest on a government student loan. Late bloomers who have passed college entrance exams will qualify for student loans but must possess initiative to fend for him or herself as other college students who work their way through college. If the student fails in this venture, payment on the loan will still have to be paid.


The labor department's allocation will be guided by living and labor costs of each community to arrive at a liveable wage. This could range anywhere from $5,000-8,500 for teenagers, depending on age and the degree of family obligations; $9,000-12,000 for adult singles, to $13,000-17,500 a year for adults with dependents — none of whom will be exempt from income tax withholding, Medicaid insurance costs included.


The skeptic may think that government job creation is nothing but "busy work." If so he has not been reading stevendedalus blogs. Poverty-stricken areas are in dire need of infrastructure and upgraded marketing. Blighted areas are also in need of the pride of ownership. All public-housing must be sold off by offering low-cost forty-year mortgages for tenants to become condo holders. The same should apply to private buildings to rid the area of slum lords. Each building association would enter strict codes for maintenance and improvements. This in itself would generate jobs by subcontracting and by virtue of home-improvement purchases. There is a great need for supporting personnel in schools from janitors to teacher aides and after-school supervision. Agricultural harvest crews are needed, and teams of pest control would be welcome down on the farm as well as in cities. Bridges and roads both in rural areas and in cities are in disrepair. Day care centers and head start need all the bodies they can get. Clean up of littering is needed everywhere. Landscaping and tree planting should be a part of the cities as well as suburban and rural sectors. Subways and other mass transits are in need of security guards. More security is needed on lonely roads in the country and dark streets and alleys in the city. Every office building, tenement, business, gas station, school, small stores are pleading for more security. Painters are in crying need, whether it be for a barn, school building or graffiti cover up. Intensive supervision of children in the streets, parks and school grounds is essential to reduce crime and narcotics. The police need live bodies to accompany officers, not dead ones. More sanitation pickups are especially necessary in blighted areas. Social services are always understaffed. The postal service should remain open in the evening and service customers better by issuing temporary class to those from the communities to sustain better service throughout the year, not just at Christmas time. Inexpensive pick-up and delivery service should be widespread for the elderly and handicapped. There is not a discount store nor supermarket that cannot use more help to speed up checkouts and to stock the floor. Minibuses are needed to take the indigent to their jobs. Glazers galore are wanting in vandalized areas. More modern lighting in crime infested streets and parking areas is never-ending. Desolate roads are precarious without lights. There are never enough paramedics and nurses. "Busy work," then, is hardly the phrase for a nation that has to work on so many essentials to lay the foundation to a better lifestyle, long overdue for the forgotten minorities.


Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: February 13, 2004.