Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2013 September 19

= September 19 =

Buying stock in unemployment?
When I read that Norway, which has been having a 3% unemployment rate, had elected a right-wing government, my first thought was "Gee, I wish I could buy stock in unemployment..." under the presumption they will make that figure more friendly to business. But on second thought, can you actually do that? Does anyone market financial instruments that are invested in employment agencies, networking web sites, short sales of unemployment-sensitive assets, etc. with the goal of creating a fund that will go up in value when unemployment increases in a particular country or set of countries? It strikes me that such a fund would be a good "diversification" for wage laborers, who could at least hope for increased returns on investment should a change in financial climate make it harder to find work. Wnt (talk) 01:08, 19 September 2013 (UTC)
 * For counter cyclical equities see the VIX. There are a number of other similar investments which you may be thinking of. Shadowjams (talk) 05:18, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Maybe not "unemployment" as such, but I'm sure you could buy shares in employment agencies and other companies who specialise in making money out of people's misfortune and privatised ex-publicly owned services (in the UK we have A4e, Serco, G4S, Circle Health...) --TammyMoet (talk) 09:24, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * What you might actually be looking for, if I understand the question, is a hedge fund. μηδείς (talk) 21:27, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Medeis - maybe you are making an obscure joke here, but I just don't follow your response. What connection do you see between hedge funds and unemployment ? Gandalf61 (talk) 08:46, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * They can be used to "hedge" against a number of risks, theoretically including changes in the employment rate... AnonMoos (talk) 16:23, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Really ? So which specific fund or funds would you suggest the OP should invest in as protection against rising unemployment in Norway ? Gandalf61 (talk) 16:34, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I can't imagine what possible joke you saw there! I am not an expert, but the question here seems to be, what sort of financial instruments can I use to take advantage of economic bad times. Government is not a business, unemployment is not an investment.  Government apart from war and criminal law enforcement is essentially people with guns taking money from one group and giving some of it to another--the way to get in on that is either to become a politician or get a lucrative government contract, for which see Ross Perot's EDS as a good example.  But there are investment instruments that take into account downturns.  See also short selling and financial derivatives. μηδείς (talk) 17:02, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * ... or they could invest in gold, or fixed-rate savings bonds, or structured products etc.etc. My point is that the OP asked a very specific question, and your response seemed to be both vague (there are many many different types of hedge funds) and quite random, so I wondered what your reasoning was. It's as if someone asked you "what should I wear to my best friend's wedding ?" and you answered "wear something made from cotton". Gandalf61 (talk) 08:57, 21 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Indeed. If Medies actually read the article he linked to, he would see why his comment could only be interreted as a joke. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 12:17, 21 September 2013 (UTC)


 * No, it's perfectly relevant. And yes, cotton is a perfect recommendation for a wedding.  But do explain, rather than simply asserting your conclusion. μηδείς (talk) 20:10, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Borders in Oceania
Political maps tend to depict the nations of Oceania with which look quite different from those countries'. Do the "straight line" borders have any real-world application, or do they just put them on maps for convenience? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 08:42, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Looking at the lead (introductory paragraph) of our Oceania article, there doesn't seem to be any real agreement on which territories are included in Oceania and which aren't. I strongly suspect that there is no practical application for these lines. When I was at primary school, that part of the world was called Australasia if I recall correctly. Alansplodge (talk) 16:51, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

How is pastoral care different from helping people with emotional-spiritual concerns?
I know that pastoral care is an actual profession, where people who are trained and educated in pastoral care would help other people with emotional-spiritual concerns. I am wondering if the vocation can be performed by amateurs. Say a physician practices medicine at a hospital or clinic. Assuming that the hospital or clinic is affiliated with a religious denomination, does the physician have the ability to offer pastoral care services as well as medical advice at the same time, thereby treating the patient with not only Western medicine but also holistic and spiritual medicine? That said, does that eliminate the need for people who specialize in this field, if the pastoral care positions are taken over by certified physicians, or does this field require specially trained individuals who are not medical practitioners? 164.107.102.46 (talk) 14:14, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Some treatment is provided by therapy dogs.
 * —Wavelength (talk) 15:37, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * In educational institutions, it is common for pastoral care to be provided by people who primarily have other roles (eg academic), though nowadays they will often have had some training specific to pastoral duties. See (as an example) . --ColinFine (talk) 17:34, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * You failed to mention medical/health institutions. 140.254.136.167 (talk) 19:14, 19 September 2013 (UTC)
 * You failed to be non-judgmental.  Wait ... --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  19:52, 19 September 2013 (UTC)


 * This term seems very vague and our article on it written from what seems like a British standpoint but without clarity or references. It might help also if the OP could give a specific example of where counseling is being sought, and what for. μηδείς (talk) 21:26, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

Well, 164.107.102.46, you ask a lot of questions and I think it will vary from country to country. In the United States, individuals who are interested in providing pastoral care (both clergy and lay people) enroll in Clinical pastoral education (CPE) programs which are very, very intense and typically last 3-4 months. They are typically associated with a care organization, like a hospital and enrollment is competitive as there are only a limited number of positions. It's also not uncommon for students to take more than one CPE program so they can get experience in a variety of fields. Right now, if you want to become a chaplain (lay or ordained), being in a CPE program is mandatory. Chaplaincies are normally a paid position and the individual works for the organization.

Pastoral care can also be provided, by clergy and lay people, by acting as spiritual directors. The credentials to become a spiritual director aren't fixed...for some denominations, having a divinity degree (MDiv) is enough. I went through a three year program to become a spiritual director but it was a regional program. There are sometimes similar training programs associated with retreat/spirituality centers. Typically, spiritual direction is seen as a ministry and so it's not appropriate to charge as what you're doing is establishing a relationship (like that of a mentor-mentee).

While chaplains normally have a specific area of concern (a hospital, an army chaplain, a police chaplain, a chaplain on a ship, etc.), spiritual directors provide pastoral care on an individual basis, frequently to people they already know informally or who are referred to them. Typically, directors and the people they minister to meet for approximately an hour once a month but it can be more frequent if the person is going through a spiritual crisis. It's important to emphasize that any well-trained spiritual director knows their limits and refers the person to a mental health professional/psychologist if there are serious issues involved. Sometimes people go into spiritual direction considering it a free form of therapy but soon find out that it is not, it's focused on an individual's spiritual development.

I hope this helps. Liz Read! Talk! 23:51, 22 September 2013 (UTC)