Statistics tell part of the story. The present recession/depression, take
your pick, has left 8.2 percent of the population unemployed. Put that way it
may not sound like much but it means that over 12 million people in this
country are looking for work. Only estimates of those who have given up the job
hunt have been put on the table.
Another disaster, courtesy of Wall Street's driving the
country into a ditch, is this: "Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty
in the United States last year," according to a New York Times article
(September 13, 2011). "The Census Bureau," the article goes on, "reported that
the number of Americans living below the official poverty line -- 46.2 million
people -- was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing
figures on it."
Since the official poverty line is set at the low figure
of $22,314 for a family of four, there are actually more people who are
struggling to survive, trying to fend off homelessness, which is on the
increase, to feed their families by going to food pantries in hopes they can
scrape together enough cash to pay for other necessities.
The country needs a jobs
program but not one like the proposed Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011 where money was
to be given to state and city governments so they could entice businesses to
move to their areas. Money needs to go directly to workers.
This is what President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's agencies did in the thirties. His Works Progress Administration
(WPA) over the course of an eight-year period from 1935 to 1943 employed eight
and a half million people. It
wasn't only the 8.5 million who were helped. Unlike tax cuts to the wealthy, who just sit on their money,
the pay to these workers was spent locally, creating a ripple affect throughout
their communities.
In addition, the government
bailed out the banks instead of circulating the money by helping homeowners pay
their mortgages.
Entry into WW II temporarily
solved the unemployment situation. Men got paid while in the service and many
women, who were not considered breadwinners under government programs, went to
work in factories and shipyards to help the war effort.
The WPA was not the only
government program that put people to work. The Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC), initiated in 1933, housed 250,000 young men in rural camps where they
engaged in reforestation and conservation tasks like clearing hiking trails and
improving park facilities. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) hired four
million people for public works jobs after its enactment in 1933. Other
agencies like the National Youth Administration and the Public Works
Administration provided employment for young people as well as older workers.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
