The Reverse New Deal: No time or money for a vacation when you're working for the 1%

(WPA poster, by artist Richard Halls, created in New York City between 1936 and 1938. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

New Deal policymakers understood the importance of recreation, vacations, and the opportunity for citizens to see their country. Most of our policymakers today (as well as most of our nation's business elite) couldn't care less. They're too concerned with executive bonuses, shareholder returns, and campaign contributions to worry about the health & well-being of the American public.

Those who defend American-style, winner-take-all capitalism declare that the increasing wealth of the wealthy is good for everyone. But, as they're daydreaming about this in their Ayn Rand fantasy land, the rest of us must deal with the reality of life. And that reality is this: As millionaires & billionaires keep hoarding more and more wealth, wages are stagnating, personal debt is rising, and vacations are out of reach for millions of Americans. Once again, trickle-down economics, and the snake-oil salesmen who peddle it, have been exposed for the frauds that they are.
 

(WPA poster promoting hiking, by artist Shari Weisberg, created in Illinois between 1936 and 1939. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

Recent surveys indicate that a lot of Americans aren't taking vacations because they're "Too Afraid And Stressed To Take Days Off From Work" or because they simply can't afford to: "The lower the income of Americans, the fewer vacation days they have taken this year."

      

New Deal policymakers tried to point us towards a different outcome than the outcome we have today. Between 1935 and 1943, for example, WPA workers created 310 miles of new ski trails, 800 new public swimming pools, 1,600 new parks, 10,000 new tennis courts, and much , much more. Meanwhile, the Civilian Conservation Corps did voluminous work in many of the state & national parks that we enjoy today (that is, if we're lucky enough to get vacation time). So, New Deal policymakers tried to promote recreation activities and vacations. They understood that there's more to life than toiling away for low wages, so that super-wealthy Americans (and their heirs) can live lives of perpetual luxury. 

In 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt said: "We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence...We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are...The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation..." (see "State of the Union Message to Congress, January 11, 1944," FDR Presidential Library and Museum, emphasis added).

Though he was right to point us in the direction that he did, and though we heeded his words for a few decades, Roosevelt was ultimately wrong when he said "We have accepted." The fact is, unfortunately, we have not accepted "The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation..." We have, instead, submitted to the foolishness of trickle-down economics. And so, "Around half of those in the bottom three income groups say they haven’t taken a day off," while, "No one making more than $150,000 says they’ve gone without a day off."

Welcome to the Reverse New Deal: No time or money for a vacation when you're working for the 1%.

(FDR's Second Bill of Rights. Original YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZ5bx9AyI4.)