[Soul of the South]

“Meanwhile, idiot liberals do free charity work while people sitting on their arses could be doing things for their own communities.”

During the Great Depression many unemployed worked on government projects in the CCCC and WPA instead of receiving free money. We still benefit from the infrastructure projects created as a result of these programs. National Park buildings and roads, Hoover Dam, the Blue Ridge Parkway, post offices and federal building, state park infrastructure, and roads. Not only did these infrastructure projects deliver benefits for decades, the people working on these project learned skills allowing them to eventually transition back into the private sector as the economy improved. Plus young people participating in these programs learned a work ethic (i.e. produce or starve) that cannot be taught on social media or video games.

Traveling around the US one sees roads in disrepair, bridges built 50 years ago that need to be replaced, national park infrastructure decaying, and many other infrastructure needs that would benefit from the labor of those who are living on government assistance. The inner cities would benefit from picking up trash, repairing streets, demolition of burned out buildings, and rehabilitation of public housing. Without compulsory work programs we will continue to produce more generations of families trapped in a never ending cycle of poverty.

[grania]

You got that 100% correct. Those WPA jobs, besides everything else you mentioned, achieved something else that's important. Young men with no jobs to keep them busy and no families to protect are the most destructive force on the planet. A job with a paycheck and pride in the accomplishment leads to stability leads to a desire to have a family.

Unfortunately, people today don't learn Sociology. It got connected with handout programs and a desire to herd the underclass, which is a shame.

An example of an ancient WPA project is the pyramids. Ancient Egypt was a highly successful civilization and people had a whole lot of time on their hands. So very wise leaders had them occupied and paid building humongous monuments to themselves. That's one hypothesis, anyway.

[BAN-ONE]

Good post.

Over the years, I have had many long conversations with elders that experienced the great depression up close and personal. They either loved FDR or hated him. Few were neutral. The ratio seemed about 50-50.

Many reminisced that a big benefit from those old programs was in keeping the work ethic. They had to show up every day on time. This concept has been lost, but it should be possible to rediscover.