“Sanders is wrong about the New Deal “putting people to work” since their government-funded activity did nothing to create wealth or end the depression.”
While it didn’t create wealth, the CCC did move money around to keep people working. Even if it was make-work (and some of the work in parks was really well done), at the very least it kept people in the mind-frame that they would WORK - not just sit home, breed, and get paid.
Yes, there is actually a good argument for that. Once people become unemployed and go on the bench for more than a few months, the skills and habits that could get them into a new job deteriorate rapidly. It is likely cost-efficient to employ them short-term, even in a money losing venture, than to have them go on the dole.
A large number of people who have been sitting around since Obama took office are now likely unemployable.
Which is why the US is steadily going down hill, and why freedoms are dissolving.
But like Maggie said, sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
My own father was in the CCC. It was organized like the military, with officers and sergeants who cussed out the rank and file just like in the army.