wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Eleni from NYC December 30, 2008 - 10:50AM

  Although THE NEW DEAL is probably one of the most Socialist in nature, its not the first time FDR used this economic reform strategy. Rememeber the THREE R's?

  when FDR was gov. of NYS? and we were in BIG financial trouble the "THREE R's: Reform, Relief, Recover"[??] which evolved into THE NEW DEAL in the 1930's.

  FDR was greatly criticized by his old-money Aristocratic peers who referred to him as a traitor for lifting the burden of poverty off the collapsed middle and working classes. I think if FDR were Pres. today, he probabaly would revisit THE NEW DEAL and modify and enact some of the WPA plicies concerning unemployment and some of the housing issues today.

  
  
• [2] Ciesse from Manhattan December 30, 2008 - 01:13PM

  Why not bring back the WPA's Federal Art Project? It could put struggling artists to meaningful work, beautify and re-animate our public spaces, and revive the social function of art in America. Rothko, Pollock, Hartley, Guston, and many illustrious others were all 'alums' of this initiative.

  And the Federal Writers Project! -- its documenting of American oral histories so formative for the late, great Studs Terkel.

  
  
• [3] Dave LaFontaine from Picatinny Arsenal, NJ December 30, 2008 - 01:22PM

  I grew up in New York City in the 1970-80s and played handball all cross the city on WPA-built handball courts. The brick inlayed lines and rough aggregate surfaces were long enduring, longer than the city's interest in the sport (alas).

  
  
• [4] Jerry from Elmhurst, Queens December 30, 2008 - 01:28PM

  Harry Hopkins ran a totally transparent operation. Everything was above aboard, and there were no misappropriated funds - unless Hopkins exposed them himself.

  There's no one who would do this today!

  
  
• [5] Ted from nyc December 30, 2008 - 01:46PM

  An aspect of WPA not discussed is its educational component. In the evenings after the work was done on public projects the workers attended school. These schools provided education so that advancement of these men could be had. These schools were the federal govt answer to public schools. They ended as did WPA when WWII began.

  It isn't just about work, it is also about education.

  Ted

  
  
• [6] Marty from Park Slope December 30, 2008 - 01:47PM

  Robert Caro's Power Broker illustrates how the New Deal was appropriated by FDR and had its roots on Belle Moskowitz's Lower East Side progrms.

  
  
• [7] Raúl from Flatbush, Brooklyn December 30, 2008 - 01:47PM

  Please comment on acusations that the WPA works were distributed with racial bias. I read that local commitees were used to make discions on who got relief. This allowed whites in certain areas to recieve much greater benefits from the WPA than blacks. What is your opinion on this perspective?

  
  
• [8] cushla from nyc December 30, 2008 - 01:59PM

  you mentioned getting prints of wpa photos for $25 in washington and new york -- but didn't mention from where!!! Would love to know. Thanks, very interesting show.

  
  
• [9] Paul from Washington December 30, 2008 - 02:21PM

  Cushia: I wondered the same thing about the prints. Take a look at this link from the Library of Congress website:

  http://www.loc.gov/shop/index.php?action=cCatalog.showCategory&cid=14&page=0

  
  
• [10] Rick from Manhattan December 30, 2008 - 02:39PM

  I'd like to suggest a refinement in the discourse around economic stimulus. Leonard today referred to "pump priming." Pump priming connotes short-term efforts, such as one-time tax rebates, and is generally acknowledged to be pretty ineffective in dealing with a problem like we have today (as opposed, for instance, to the economic dislocation of 9-11 for which a one-time injection could get us through a period of upset). Keynesian stimulus is not pump priming in this sense but is an effort to raise aggregate demand to a permanently higher level at which, over time, private demand will replace governmental demand as national income grows. While Roosevelt did change course along the way and attempt to balance the budget, I don't think that makes his earlier efforts pump priming since they were part of a multi-year effort. Roosevelt, unfortunately, changed policies.

  
  
• [11] deal of the day January 02, 2009 - 10:08AM

  Cushia: I wondered the same thing about the prints.