The REA, rural Oregon, and the Coos-Curry Electric Co-op

Above: In this book (published by Bonanza Publishing, Prineville, Oregon, 1988) we learn from author Rick Steber that "Although power was available in the cities, the rural areas lagged behind until the Rural Electrification Administration was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. The REA provided low-interest loans to cooperatives of rural residents willing to share the costs of bringing power to their homes." Image scanned from a personal copy.

The New Deal brings power to rural Oregon

The Coos-Curry Electric Co-op (Port Orford, Oregon) started its life as the "Coos Electric Cooperative" in 1939. That same year it received a loan of $119,500 (about $2.8 million in 2025 dollars) from the New Deal's REA to start the process of bringing power to rural areas at or near the southern Oregon coast. It was one of 17 electric co-ops in Oregon to receive low-interest financing during the first 20 years of REA, 1936-1956.

New Deal intervention in the electric market was needed because private power companies were wholly uninterested in serving rural areas - a complete market failure that left rural Americans without modern conveniences such as electric lights, washing machines, stoves, and water pumps.

The REA helped create hundreds of rural electrical cooperatives across the nation and most are still in operation today. They provide affordable power to millions of people and highlight the enduring value of New Deal progressivism (other examples include Social Security, state parks created by the CCC, and FDIC to insure our bank deposits).

(Sources: "Coos Electrical Co-Op Has Okeh On $119,500 Loan," Coos Bay Times (Coos Bay, Oregon), November 6, 1939, p. 1; REA, Rural lines, USA: The story of the Rural Electrification Administration's first twenty-five years, 1935-1960; and "About Us," Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative, accessed March 25, 2026.)   

Integrated CCC camps in the Phoenix District

The following photos are from the Official Annual 1936, Civilian Conservation Corps, Phoenix District, 8th Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and are used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Part of CCC Company 835, at Camp F-19-A, Prescott, Arizona. These young men worked on the improvement of Prescott National Forest.

Above: Enrollees in CCC Company 822, at Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona. Company 822 had work projects involving trail construction, bridge building, and soil erosion control.

Above: The undefeated baseball team of CCC Company 2870, Camp F-18-A, Prescott Arizona. Enrollees in Company 2870 engaged in the elimination of tree disease and had opportunities to learn auto mechanics, welding, mineralogy, and other vocations and skills.

Above: A band in CCC Company 1837, Camp SP-8-A, Kingman, Arizona. Company 1837 did much work at Hualapai Mountain Park (see, e.g., here and here).

Above: Another photo from Company 1837 (see previous photo). Note the older folks. They are probably war veterans who, while normally formed into their own CCC units, have been integrated into a camp of mostly younger enrollees. One can imagine the benefits of such an arrangement, such as the sharing of wisdom and experience.

CCC Integration: A complex history

The photos above highlight that the demographics of CCC camps were more complex than what many modern critics of the New Deal would have us believe (that the CCC was a hard-core discriminatory and segregationist program from start to finish). This is not to say that everything was racially fair and harmonious in the CCC--it existed in Jim Crow America, after all--just that the history needs to be examined and evaluated more carefully, for example, taking into account different ethnic groups and races, regional differences, changes over time, and the variety of reasons why some camps had a degree of integration while others had none at all.

For more photos of CCC integration, this time in the Tucson District of Arizona, see my blog post, "Interesting examples of integration in the Civilian Conservation Corps, from Arizona."

The 1953 National Rural Electric Cooperative Meeting in San Francisco: Fighting corporate greed

Above: A pinback from the 1953 NRECA meeting in San Francisco. Image scanned from a private collection.

Rural Electric Cooperatives Fight Back Against the Greedy Little Hands of Corporate America

At the 1953 meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in San Francisco, it was noted that private power companies were seeking to takeover certain public dams "to monopolize for themselves the power produced at these valuable hydroelectric resources" ("Fight Is Outlined For Public Power," The Chattanooga Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee), January 30, 1953).

NRECA noted that "certain vested interests" were seeking to takeover national forests, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Bonneville Power Administration: "We express our vigorous opposition to these proposals which are in effect a barehanded 'raid on the Commonwealth'... we urge that the Congress refuse to transfer our resources or delegate its powers to private corporations or other organizations not subject to democratic control" ("Rural Electrification Group Raps Private Firms' Clamor," Associated Press, in the Vallejo Times-Herald (Vallejo, California), January 30, 1953).

Today, Rural America needs to revive its fighting spirit, and push back against billionaires, corporations, and the super-wealthy investors who are jacking up their prices, buying politicians, and attacking needed services such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and infrastructure for clean water.

The Anti-New Deal Society: Healthcare for the disabled is being cut, so that the super-wealthy can live longer, healthier, and more luxurious lives

Above: The description for this photograph reads: "WPA Recreation leaders conduct social hour for girls group at Arkansas State Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Little Rick, Arkansas, June 1937." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Savannah, Georgia, 1936--reads: "Blind person using the Braille writer under supervision of WPA teacher." Photo from the National Archives.

The New Deal Ethos Has Been Replaced by the Cruelty, Greed, and Selfishness of the 1%

Trump, MAGA, Republicans, and their wealthy donors have made massive budget cuts to Medicaid in order to facilitate massive tax cuts for themselves (see, e.g., "Republican Megabill’s Tax Cuts for Millionaires Are Financed by Taking Health Insurance From 4.7 Million People," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 3, 2025).

One result we are beginning to see, from this right-wing Medicaid cut, is the degradation of healthcare for the disabled (see, e.g., "Families Defend Disability Services Amid Medicaid Cuts," Kaiser Family Foundation Health News, March 2, 2026).

This degradation of services is a deliberate decision by the 1%, who control public policy, to prioritize their own luxury, health, and lifespan, over the urgent needs of the disabled.

This is the opposite of the New Deal, where the rich were taxed more, a vast array of services were offered to the disabled, and the seeds of Medicaid were planted.

FDR felt strongly that the disabled had to be taken care of and included in the national life. Here are some of his thoughts on the matter:

• "The objective of a national health program is to make available in all parts of our country and for all groups of our people the scientific knowledge and skill at our command to prevent and care for sickness and disability" (source). 

• "Figures show that there are well over three hundred thousand crippled children in the United States and probably at least an equal number of grown-up people. It is my belief, and I think the belief of the doctors of the United States, that the great majority of these citizens of ours, more than half a million of them, can be restored to useful citizenship if we can give them the most modern, scientific, medical and educational treatment" (source).

• "[We] believe in and insist on the right of the helpless, the right of the weak, and the right of the crippled everywhere to play their part in life- and survive" (source).

• "Our national concern for the handicapped and the infirm is one of our national characteristics. Indeed, it caused our enemies to laugh at us as soft" (source).

• "A generation ago people had scarcely given thought to the terms 'social security'... It is only within recent years that Government has given its attention in a serious, effective way to... Government assistance to the blind and the handicapped" (source).

• "Early in our history, we realized that the basic wealth of our land is in its healthy, enlightened children, trained to assume the responsibilities and enjoy the privileges of a democracy... If any become handicapped from any cause, we are determined that they shall be properly cared for and guided to full and useful lives. How different it is in the lands of our enemies! In Germany and Japan, those who are handicapped in body or mind are regarded as unnecessary burdens to the state" (source).

Unfortunately, we are now living in a fascist America where the rich get preferential treatment and the disabled, among many other non-wealthy groups, are brushed aside further every day, viewed as economic burdens (which is ironic because Medicaid is a much stronger economic driver than tax cuts for the rich - largely because Medicaid dollars end up circulating throughout the economy, whereas the rich often hoard and sit on their extra after-tax income and wealth). 

It would be better--both for our morality and a working-class economy--if we returned to humanity and decency. It would be better if we returned to the New Deal.

We could have continued the New Deal; instead, we've created a nightmarish culture of financial predation, economic misery, and poverty-related death

Above: FDR statue, at the FDR Memorial in Washington, DC. Photo by Carol Highsmith and provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The misery that has been imposed upon us, and the New Deal solution that we've pathologically rejected

In a recent Facebook post, a parent noted his/her financial struggles, and how there did not seem to be any help or hope of escaping from it: "I’m struggling deeply. I feel overwhelmed by constant financial pressure, and I’m lost. I don’t have resources to fall back on, and I don’t know where to turn. There are millionaires and billionaires in this world, yet I can’t seem to get any kind of help. Charities exist, government programs exist, but they feel unreachable. Assistance is based on gross income, not on what’s actually left after garnishments and bills. On paper, I look like I should be okay but in real life, I’m barely surviving."

This person is not alone. Financial misery and desperation is widespread in the United States. The news site MarketWatch frequently surveys and reports on issues related to financial stress. Consider these headlines:

"Americans are plagued by financial anxiety — and it’s only getting worse," May 8, 2018.

"Most Americans can’t afford life anymore — and they just don’t matter to the economy like they once did," March 7, 2025.

"Financial Stress Survey: 65% of Americans Say Finances Are Their Biggest Source of Stress," July 11, 2025. (In this article, we learn that "About 41% agreed [with the statement] that 'my finances have destroyed my mental health,' and a majority (57%) said they feel they have to 'choose between prioritizing' their finances or their mental health...")

"NFCC Reveals Financial Strain is the New Normal for American Households," November 19, 2025.

"One in five Americans can’t afford their heating bills this winter as people are blindsided by utility costs," January 23, 2026. 

And of course, it's not just MarketWatch reporting on the financial misery of Americans:

"Rich People Don’t Just Live Longer. They Also Get More Healthy Years." New York Times, January 16, 2020.

"Around half of older Americans can’t afford essential expenses: report," The Hill, July 25, 2022.

"Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths," University of California, Riverside, April 17, 2023.

"Healthcare Insights: How Medical Debt Is Crushing 100 Million Americans," ILR Scheinman Institute, Cornell University, October 21, 2024.

"Most Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency expense, report finds," CBS News, January 23, 2025.  

"In every corner of the country, the middle class struggles with affordability," Brookings Institute, December 2, 2025. 

"‘We spent $10,000 in four months’: how an emergency car repair can gut a US family’s finances: A $1,000 fix is out of reach for many Americans – and so is good public transportation," The Guardian, December 20, 2025.

At the same time that working-class Americans are getting financially pummeled, and dying prematurely due to the problems associated with poverty, the wealthiest Americans are getting richer and richer and richer. Forbes reports: "Tariffs. Inflation. Slowing employment. None of it has hit the fortunes of America’s billionaires. The 400 richest people in the U.S. are worth a record $6.6 trillion after getting $1.2 trillion richer over the past year amid surging stock markets and AI mania."

And we know that the super-rich, by and large, are not spending their days contemplating how to help alleviate the struggles of the working-class (recall that Facebook post above). No, what they're doing instead is hoarding wealth and seeking ever-greater and more "sustainable luxury."

FDR famously said, "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

America has utterly failed that test of progress.

We could expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; we could enhance union participation (which in turn enhances wages and benefits); we could tax the super-rich at much higher rates. In other words, we could do more of the things that the New Deal did or facilitated in decades past - things that created the world's greatest middle-class and breathed life into both the General Welfare clause of the Constitution and the American Dream itself. 

But we won't do those things. Our politics, media, and voters are so jacked up on culture wars--e.g., the Democrats' obsession with identity politics, MAGA's rabies-like anger over diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Fox News and its ilk profiting off cultural hate and dysfunction--that we (collectively speaking) are willing to let ourselves be economically bludgeoned to death by the financial elite.

And make no mistake about it: This is exactly what the super-wealthy want, especially those on the right. They want us so bound up in anger and hate towards one another that we have no energy or attention left to combat their gluttonous and homicidal greed. They want us foaming at the mouth and fighting against each other over matters of immigration, LGBTQ, and guns - and not on matters of economic fairness. And we have dutifully and stupidly obliged them. This is why, for example, you see a majority of Republican voters in support of Social Security and tax increases on the rich, but consistently voting for politicians who attack those policies. They're voting on cultural issues, not on enhancing Social Security, and not on increasing inheritance taxes on billionaires and their nepo babies - nepo babies who will one day lord over us with increasingly vicious actions and public policy.

In sum, Americans across the political spectrum are getting financially beaten to death; and they agree on many of the economic policies that would help them avoid the beating. But they can't come together for candidate selection and voting because the super-wealthy have them enlisted in the Great Culture War. They're dying on the economic battlefield--one financial wretch slaying another--as their wealthy puppet masters giggle from above.

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights vs. The Modern Sociopath Society: The financial persecution of the aged, the infirm, and their family caregivers

Above: President Franklin Roosevelt, ca. 1936. Photo from an uncredited postcard, and scanned from a personal copy.

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights and Old Age Illness: The path not taken

In his 1944 Second Bill of Rights speech, President Franklin Roosevelt advocated for the right of all Americans, "regardless of station, race, or creed," to have "The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment."

There were gains made in these areas during the New Deal--e.g., Social Security, and more healthcare services and facilities--and also in the first few decades after the New Deal--e.g., Medicare and Medicaid--but since then, with a few exceptions, it has been mostly downhill, mostly a rejection of FDR's Economic Bill of Rights in favor of a brutal, every-man-for-himself sort of public policy. Indeed, if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid did not exist today--thanks to the legislation of years past--bills to create them would not pass in today's right-wing and neoliberal Congress.

In the realm of old age and family caregiving, there are indications (and in some cases clear evidence), that among the 53 million family caregivers in the U.S., there is extreme financial strain, an increased risk of bankruptcy, a risk of homelessness, higher rates of depression, and more frequent suicide ideation.

One might think, "Well, for goodness sake, don't try to take care of the person yourself, get them into a nursing home!" But there are serious physical and financial catastrophes associated with nursing homes as well, for example: Lack of appropriate funding (leading to staffing shortages and thus an increased risk of elder abuse); the requirement that nursing home patients be forcefully impoverished before Medicaid kicks in, leaving them with little or no means to protect their house and property (and here, it is important to note that many nursing home residents end up being discharged back to their homes - so it is important to maintain their homes in some modest manner); Medicaid Estate Recovery, which is a means for nursing homes to seize a deceased person's house (potentially forcing the former family caregiver into homelessness); debt collector harassment of family members to pay bills; and nursing homes discharging patients to "homeless shelters and rundown motels." The latter is called "patient dumping," which one law firm describes this way:

"It comes down to money. Nursing homes prioritize residents who bring in higher reimbursements, such as those covered by private insurance or short-term Medicare benefits. When a resident’s coverage changes--often when they transition to Medicaid--the nursing home suddenly finds a reason to discharge them... Residents who rely on Medicaid for long-term care bring in lower reimbursements, making them a financial target."

For many family caregivers and care recipients, it is a no-win situation. Family caregiving at the home runs a high risk of financial catastrophe, and nursing home placement runs a high risk of financial catastrophe.

Why is this happening? The reasons are many and complex, but the overarching reason is simple and straightforward. As a society, we have chosen selfishness and greed over FDR's call for economic security for all. We have prioritized tax cuts for the 1%--so that they can acquire sustainable luxury--over the common good, over the well-being of the elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them.

We have rejected FDR's advocacy for a Second Bill of Rights and rejected the New Deal and it ethos. In their place we have built, and are continuing to build a sociopathic (if not gleefully sadistic) society. I hate to put it that way, because there are many caring people who exist within this sociopath society, but the evidence, experience, and outcomes are so utterly clear. When we are impoverishing millions of family caregivers and care recipients, putting them in constant fear, while at the same time giving massive tax cuts to people who already dominate so much of our nation's wealth--so they can pursue more luxury, political power, and family legacy (a.k.a., our economic caste system)--and fail to stop it, year after year, decade after decade, that is sociopathy.

America, look in the mirror and tell me what you see. I've already told you what I see.  

New Deal Rugs: Craftsmanship, employment, recreation, job training, therapy, thrift, and social welfare

Above: The description for this 1941 photograph reads: "Farm worker's wife making hooked rug in sewing class. A WPA (Work Projects Administration) project at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) labor camp. Caldwell, Idaho." During the New Deal, many classes were conducted to teach people how to make products out of scrap material, either for sale (to make a little money) or home use (to save a little money). Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration, and provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: A WPA hook rug project in the Virgin Islands, between 1935 and 1943. The description for this photograph reads, "These women are adept at all handicrafts, and the products are both artistic and colorful." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Another view of the WPA hook rug project in the Virgin Islands (see previous photo). The description for this photograph reads, "Under this project women have been taught to hook rugs. It has been so successful and a market has been found for the rugs that it is hoped this industry will continue." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: New Deal rug-making projects in the Virgin Islands had started even earlier than the WPA, for example, this project in the Civil Works Administration (CWA, 1933-1934). Photo from: Henry G. Alsberg, America Fights the Depression: A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration, New York: Coward-McCann Publishers, 1934, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: This photo was taken in Miami, Florida, between 1935 and 1943, and the description for it reads, "Women of all ages find rug making a very interesting and profitable activity. This activity is part of the WPA Recreation Program in Miami." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Women making rugs on a WPA sewing room project in Spokane, Washington, December 1935. WPA-produced rugs were usually given to families in need of assistance. For example, in 1935 it was reported that WPA sewing rooms in Idaho would be making clothes, and also "pillow cases, sheets, and rugs for relief clients" ("Idaho Gets Funds For Needlework," The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), September 17, 1935, p. 13). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Two disabled military veterans on a WPA rug-making project in Springfield, Massachusetts, between 1935 and 1943. The New Deal recognized and utilized the skills of disabled Americans on many projects across the country. This type of work provided therapeutic benefits, modest pay, job training and, of course, goods for distribution to lower-income Americans who could not afford to buy  such products in the private marketplace. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Another scene at the WPA rug-making center for disabled workers in Springfield, Massachusetts (see previous photo and caption). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA class for weaving rag rugs, Costilla, New Mexico, September 1939. Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration, and provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Newspaper archives are filled with articles about New Deal rug-making projects and show, among other things, that young women in the National Youth Administration (NYA) produced many rugs between 1935 and 1943, winning awards and accolades along the way. In this Associated Press article--from the March 21, 1937 edition of The Humboldt Times (Eureka, California)--we see that thrift not only guided the search for scrap material, but also for tools! Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: In between the termination of CWA (see 4th photo & caption from the top of this blog post), in March 1934, and the beginning of WPA, in July 1935, the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided jobs for the unemployed, and funded the same types of projects as CWA and WPA, including rug-making. Indeed, FERA workers made 70,700 rugs during the Work Division's existence, just 15 months. Photo from the Work Division's final report.

Above: Another FERA rug-making project (see previous photo and caption), 1934-1935. Photo from the Work Division's final report.

Above: FERA also provided funding for cooperatives; and some of these co-ops produced rugs, such as the Berkeley Self-Help Cooperative. Image from the Work Division's final report.

Above: "Women of the Rug Cooperative," an organization funded by the New Deal's Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), 1937. To learn more about PRRA, be sure to check out: Geoff G. Burrows, The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration: New Deal Public Works, Modernization, and Colonial Reform (University Press of Florida, 2024). Photo from Archivo de Arquitectura y Construcción de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (accessed January 12, 2026).

How Many New Deal Rugs?

It does not appear that a comprehensive study has ever been done on New Deal rugs; and, if records were kept at the time, they are not easily accessible today. However, if 70,700 rugs were created under the auspices of FERA's Work Division, in just 15 months, the total number--when we consider the much longer-lived WPA and NYA, as well as CWA and cooperatives--might be close to a million.