Obama's job creation program sounds an awful lot like the We Piddle Around program from the 1930s.
"We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges; modernizing schools that are failing our children; and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years head," he said.
Compare that to
Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA provided almost 8 million laborers to build public buildings, projects and roads
Is this any different?
From The Other McCain:
This is nothing but orthodox Keynesianism, and it won't work, because Keynes was wrong. The secret to economic growth is not government "investment," it's increasing the capital supply. And it's not exactly a secret, either.
But--but it's Uber-Obama Keynesianism so it's bound to work this time!
Go to a thriving Southern or Western state (North Carolina, Arizona, Texas, etc.) and you'll find yourself traveling on well-maintained modern roads, occasionally obstructed by construction of improvements -- extra lanes, upgraded exit ramps, repaving, etc. Now travel around the Rust Belt states and note the general dilapidation of the highways. You can't miss the poorly-designed freeway ramps built 40 years ago, or the narrowness of highway shoulders because the state went cheap on right-of-way acquisition.
It's hard to argue against roads and bridges, and if Obama is determined to expand the government, this is a better way than hiring a bunch of bureaucrats to decide if someone making $40k a year is poor or not.
But when Obama announces the "raking leaves in the park" initiative, we'll know where he got that idea from.
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