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The Obama WPA Plan

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Anonymous

Guest
Obama outlines plan to create 2.5M jobs
President elect gives brief rundown of economic recovery plan.


Last Updated: November 22, 2008: 1:00 PM ET

New York (CNN) -- Saying that moving quickly is imperative, President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday offered an outline of his economic recovery plan to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011, saying American workers will rebuild the nation's roads and bridges, modernize its schools and create more sources of alternative energy.

"These aren't just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis," Obama said in the weekly Democratic address, posted on his Web site. "These are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long."

Details of the plan are still being worked out by his economic team, Obama said, but he hopes to sign the two-year, nationwide plan shortly after taking office January 20.

He referred to figures out this week showing that new home purchases in October were the lowest in 50 years, and that 540,000 new unemployment claims had been filed -- the highest in 16 years.

"We must do more to put people back to work and get our economy moving again," he said. More than a million jobs have been lost this year, he said, and "if we don't act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year."

The plan will be aimed at jump-starting job creation, Obama said, and laying the foundation for a stronger economy.

"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.

He noted he will need support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass such a plan, and said he welcomes suggestions from both sides of the aisle.

"But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action," he said. "Right now, there are millions of mothers and fathers who are lying awake at night wondering if next week's paycheck will cover next month's bills. There are Americans showing up to work in the morning, only to have cleared out their desks by the afternoon. Retirees are watching their life savings disappear, and students are seeing their college dreams deferred. These Americans need help, and they need it now."

Throughout history, he said, Americans have been able to rise above their divisions to work together, he said.

"That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come," Obama said. "It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will."
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/22/news/economy/Obama_economy/index.htm?cnn=yes
 

loomixguy

Well-known member
Homey will be happy to smoke KOOLS and drank 40's while Whitey does all the work!

Homey WILL NOT participate! No "change" there.
 

VanC

Well-known member
Regardless of what politicians say, the federal government has never created a job in the private sector, so I'm assuming these 2.5 million jobs will be government jobs. Given that the federal government employs about 3.5 million people (including the military), an additional 2.5 million jobs would be quite a leap, and at a time when our government is teetering on bankrupcy. Is this really a good idea? Has he said how this pie in the sky idea will be funded? Does Obama have any new ideas, or is he just going to recycle old ones that have already been tried.......and failed. Do we really want another WPA? Do we really want every man, woman, and child in this country to be completly dependent on the government for everything in our lives? Is that freedom?

"Unlike the quite popular Civilian Conservation Corps, the WPA had numerous conservative critics. One of the principal criticisms leveled at the program was that it wasted federal dollars on projects that were not always needed or wanted. A relic of this criticism survives today in the form of a satirical observation that WPA workers were hired 'to rake leaves in the park.' White-collar WPA projects in particular were often singled out for their sometimes overtly left-wing social and political themes. One criticism of the allocation of WPA projects and funding was that they were often made for political considerations. Congressional leaders in favor with the Roosevelt administration, or who possessed considerable seniority and political power often helped decide which states and localities received the most funding. The most serious criticism was that Roosevelt was building a nationwide political machine with millions of workers.

Some who were critical of the WPA referred to it as "We Poke Along," "We Piddle Along" or "We Putter Around." This is a sarcastic reference to WPA projects that sometimes slowed to a crawl, because foremen on a government project devised to maintain employment often had no incentive or ability to influence worker productivity by demotion or termination. This criticism was due in part to the WPA's early practice of basing wages on a "security wage," ensuring workers would be paid even if the project was delayed, improperly constructed, or incomplete."
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Anything that can get the working people in the US busy and making money will help everyone. Working people spend their money and other people can have business's that benefit from this money. Sometimes all it takes is to get the pump primed and it takes off.
 

Texan

Well-known member
If my math is correct, at $30,000/year, that many jobs would cost 75 BILLION dollars per year - $75,000,000,000. Where will that money come from?

If a lot of those jobs aren't producing something that can be sold - if they're mostly public works type jobs - that money will have to come from somebody that's already got it. A 75 billion dollar annual increase in taxes. A HUGE redistribution of wealth - just like we tried to tell you people. :???:
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Texan said:
If my math is correct, at $30,000/year, that many jobs would cost 75 BILLION dollars per year - $75,000,000,000. Where will that money come from?

If a lot of those jobs aren't producing something that can be sold - if they're mostly public works type jobs - that money will have to come from somebody that's already got it. A 75 billion dollar annual increase in taxes. A HUGE redistribution of wealth - just like we tried to tell you people. :???:

You mean like Bush/Paulson came crawling to Congress for his Fatcat Banker buddies - like the AIG folks that took taxpayer money to give their management bonus's for bankrupting the company :???:

Yep- Socialism for the Wealthy
Capitalism for the poor and working class.....
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Texan said:
If my math is correct, at $30,000/year, that many jobs would cost 75 BILLION dollars per year - $75,000,000,000. Where will that money come from?

If a lot of those jobs aren't producing something that can be sold - if they're mostly public works type jobs - that money will have to come from somebody that's already got it. A 75 billion dollar annual increase in taxes. A HUGE redistribution of wealth - just like we tried to tell you people. :???:

You mean like Bush/Paulson came crawling to Congress for his Fatcat Banker buddies - like the AIG folks that took taxpayer money to give their management bonus's for bankrupting the company :???:

Yep- Socialism for the Wealthy
Capitalism for the poor and working class.....

If I recall correctly, seems to me that Pelosi was mad as hell when Republicans wouldn't vote for that bailout. Tell me again who was pushing it?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
Oldtimer said:
Texan said:
If my math is correct, at $30,000/year, that many jobs would cost 75 BILLION dollars per year - $75,000,000,000. Where will that money come from?

If a lot of those jobs aren't producing something that can be sold - if they're mostly public works type jobs - that money will have to come from somebody that's already got it. A 75 billion dollar annual increase in taxes. A HUGE redistribution of wealth - just like we tried to tell you people. :???:

You mean like Bush/Paulson came crawling to Congress for his Fatcat Banker buddies - like the AIG folks that took taxpayer money to give their management bonus's for bankrupting the company :???:

Yep- Socialism for the Wealthy
Capitalism for the poor and working class.....

If I recall correctly, seems to me that Pelosi was mad as hell when Republicans wouldn't vote for that bailout. Tell me again who was pushing it?

You just can't admit that your (R) Champions screwed up so bad that they had to come begging the Dem Congress for money to bail out their buddies can you :???: :wink: :lol: :p Denial is not only a river in Egypt- its also the reason the Repub party has fell apart....
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
So I'm wrong about Pelosi? That didn't happen?

And I'm wrong about it being the (R's) Champion GW and his appointee Paulson that came up with the idea and came crawling to the Dems for help :???:
 
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Anonymous

Guest
leanin' H said:
Who required banks to start making riskier loans? That would of been the Clinton admin> Now which party were they?

You gonna blame the entire economy on George Washington next- since he instituted the first tax... :???: :wink: :lol: :p

Yep Repubs are in denial- want to fantasize in their minds that GW and his corruption and incompetency- which went unchallenged by any Republican Congressmen- didn't exist...Just like they said in the panel discussion televised the other day- until they can bring themselves to accept/admit they screwed up- they can't start figuring out how to fix the party...
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Sandhusker said:
So I'm wrong about Pelosi? That didn't happen?

And I'm wrong about it being the (R's) Champion GW and his appointee Paulson that came up with the idea and came crawling to the Dems for help :???:

You can't deny that it was rejected by Republicans, much to Pelosi's chagrin.

Of course none of this would of happened if we had heeded McCain's warnings and abandoned Barney Frank's lending policies.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
Oldtimer said:
Sandhusker said:
So I'm wrong about Pelosi? That didn't happen?

And I'm wrong about it being the (R's) Champion GW and his appointee Paulson that came up with the idea and came crawling to the Dems for help :???:

You can't deny that it was rejected by Republicans, much to Pelosi's chagrin.

.

Yep- who then voted for it after they held out for another $100 Billion in pork for the home folk to be added to it.... :roll: :(
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
I am not saying Republicans arent to blame as well. But you seem to be saying Democrats are never to blame. Pelosi/Reid led congress passes this wastefilled pork/bailouts correct? Bush signs them, correct?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
leanin' H said:
I am not saying Republicans arent to blame as well. But you seem to be saying Democrats are never to blame. Pelosi/Reid led congress passes this wastefilled pork/bailouts correct? Bush signs them, correct?

Now you're starting to get it- People from both parties are to fault...Dems for pushing the Freddies and Fannies- Repub Congress/Greenspan/Clinton for massive deregulation, thinking bankers/Fatcats are honest :roll: - Foreclosure Phil for deregulating all commodities and putting them into nontransparent trading- Bush and the regulation boys (he told to take an 8 year vacation) for nonenforcement/violation of the laws on any regulation/oversight that was left- which allowed even illegals to get mortgage loans unquestioned- and falling asleep at the wheel and letting the situation get to where the wagon has 3 wheels over and teetering on the abyss before he realizes it...
Bush almost totally turned over control of the government to the corporate world- which some of you have even recognized in the way the Packers have run the beef/cattle industry unpoliced - and definitely to the detriment of the cattle producer....
Maybe its going to have to take some good old Teddy Roosevelt/FDR types of "socialism" to straighten this country out...

"Our goal is to promote prosperity- and to guarantee that prosperity is spread around"
Theodore Roosevelt
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
This thread got me to thinking about the effect the WPA and CCC had on our area... Many older folks in our area are/were strong Roosevelt Democrats- used to say with the depression and dustbowl drought conditions- they may have starved if it wasn't for the Roosevelt programs like the WPA and CCC...You can still see many of the Fairgrounds, Grandstands, Community Halls, dams and reservoirs, bridges and roads that were built by those in our area including the massive Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir that started in 1933 and wasn't completed until 1940...

My Dad and one uncle went to work on the Dam starting at a $1 an hour- big money- while my other uncle and Grandpa worked the Homestead...Most their earnings went back to support the family...100,000's of people from all over the country, worked on the Dam at one time or another, with as many as 11,000 being employed there at one time....

The only ones I ever heard complain were some of those farmers/ranchers who's place was on the 134 miles of riverbottom that was "bought" by the government and eventually ended up under water...

And now besides this being a major electricity source and flood controll device it has became a huge recreational area.... This is the type of longterm infrastructure investments we need to make now (instead of sending it all to Iraq to make some corrupt Mullah rich :roll: ) ....
 

lazy ace

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
This thread got me to thinking about the effect the WPA and CCC had on our area... Many older folks in our area are/were strong Roosevelt Democrats- used to say with the depression and dustbowl drought conditions- they may have starved if it wasn't for the Roosevelt programs like the WPA and CCC...You can still see many of the Fairgrounds, Grandstands, Community Halls, dams and reservoirs, bridges and roads that were built by those in our area including the massive Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir that started in 1933 and wasn't completed until 1940...

My Dad and one uncle went to work on the Dam starting at a $1 an hour- big money- while my other uncle and Grandpa worked the Homestead...Most their earnings went back to support the family...100,000's of people from all over the country, worked on the Dam at one time or another, with as many as 11,000 being employed there at one time....

The only ones I ever heard complain were some of those farmers/ranchers who's place was on the 134 miles of riverbottom that was "bought" by the government and eventually ended up under water...

And now besides this being a major electricity source and flood controll device it has became a huge recreational area.... This is the type of longterm infrastructure investments we need to make now (instead of sending it all to Iraq to make some corrupt Mullah rich :roll: ) ....

Sounds good in theory but the whacko envirementalists will still protest things like this because they found some prairie dog or another animal that needs protecting. :roll:

have a cold one

lazy ace
 

Clarencen

Well-known member
Old timmer:
If your Dad and uncle received $1 an hour workiing on the Fort Peck Dam, they were not working on WPA. While it is true that some experienced workers received better pay, most worked just 5 days a week putting in 6 or 7 hours a day (30 hr. week). Most received about $30 a month. both those on WPA and those on CCC.

My Dad worked a few weeks on WPA in the fall of 1936, I was only 7 years old so don't know for sure how long. He had run a threshing machine that summer so it couldn't have been to long. He furnished a team of horses and used a fresno to move dirt for the road. Must have been quite hard work.

A little small grain crop was produced here in both 1935 and 1936, but it was hardly worth threshing. Usually threshing was done for so much a bushel, but crop was so poor in 1936 he charged by the hour. Farmers needed the grain for their horses and chickens so harvested what little they had.
The road work quit about Nov. 1 They brought in motorized road equipment to finish the road then. I don't believe there was anyone in my community who worked on WPA in 1937, but no crop was raised that year. More people left the area that year than any of the other years.

AQ cousin of mine was here a few years ago. He graduated from High school in 1941, he and a friend went to Washington to work for Boeing. We were not in the war yet but were producing airplanes for England. He said they received 50 cents an hour from Boeing. Just he was drafted for the army he came home.
 
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