Monday, January 14, 2013

Need Water? Let the WPA Help With That


According to this Reuters article, "U.S. farmers, squeezed by high prices for corn and other fodder on one hand, and drought that has parched pastureland on the other, are cutting back their herds in a bid to survive. The U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to 91 million animals, the smallest in 60 years."

One proposal to the problem of drought, that I have heard a few times, is an aqueduct system that could transport water from areas where there is too much (e.g., flood prone areas) to areas where there is too little. This would be an excellent infrastructure project for America. The long-term unemployed could be offered opportunities to train and work on the development of such a water transportation network.

Are we going to do this? Of course not. We will simply let droughts and wild fires wreak havoc, and let the long-term unemployed live in hopelessness. The question is: Why?

(Image above is a WPA poster, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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