"... your problems here on the island are very much the same kind of problems that we have in many other parts of the United States... With the help of our Government in Washington and with the splendid help of the Island Government and of the Governor, I am looking forward to the solving of these problems here in the island just as quickly as we shall solve them in the continental part of the United States."
--President Franklin Roosevelt, July 7, 1934, "Remarks in San Juan, Puerto Rico." Less than a year later, Roosevelt created the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, which, along with the WPA, CCC, NYA, and other New Deal agencies, employed many thousands of Puerto Ricans and modernized the island's infrastructure.
Above: "Unemployed Worker," an etching on paper by Kalman Matyas Bela Kubinyi (1906-1974), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Puerto Rico has been plagued with high unemployment for many years. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Gibbes Museum of Art.
Scapegoating Trump for the Puerto Rico debacle vs. our collective and decades-long betrayal of the New Deal
President Trump and his administration have been taking a lot of flak for their response to the disaster in Puerto Rico (see, e.g., "Puerto Ricans Say the Trump Administration's Relief Efforts Are Failing Them," TIME, September 28, 2017). Some of the criticism is deserved, some of it is not. But whatever the level of blame that is justified, there is actually a much larger problem here: Our collective betrayal of the New Deal, and our collective apathy.
For many decades now, we have, through our actions, voting behavior, and indifference, said: "Forget about the New Deal, let's just rely on the holy free market and the magical investments of millionaires & billionaires."
For example, we've decided, very naively, that we don't need the unions the New Deal protected because owners, managers, and CEO's will look after us, out of the kindness of their hearts. The results of that decision? Stagnant wages, reduced benefits, and more precarious retirements. We've also decided, very stupidly, that we don't need to pay much attention to our infrastructure. The results of that decision? Millions of children drinking lead-contaminated water out of crumbling water mains, connection lines, and plumbing, and a quarter of a million water main breaks every year. We've also decided, very myopically, that a new and permanent WPA, CCC, and NYA are not necessary. Instead, tens of millions of us believe that private sector "entrepreneurs," "innovators," and "job creators" will employ everyone who wants a job; that there is no such thing as market failure, and that anyone who doesn't have a job must be a lazy S.O.B. The results of that decision and belief? Shattered finances, broken families, mass incarceration, and rising rates of suicide.
For example, we've decided, very naively, that we don't need the unions the New Deal protected because owners, managers, and CEO's will look after us, out of the kindness of their hearts. The results of that decision? Stagnant wages, reduced benefits, and more precarious retirements. We've also decided, very stupidly, that we don't need to pay much attention to our infrastructure. The results of that decision? Millions of children drinking lead-contaminated water out of crumbling water mains, connection lines, and plumbing, and a quarter of a million water main breaks every year. We've also decided, very myopically, that a new and permanent WPA, CCC, and NYA are not necessary. Instead, tens of millions of us believe that private sector "entrepreneurs," "innovators," and "job creators" will employ everyone who wants a job; that there is no such thing as market failure, and that anyone who doesn't have a job must be a lazy S.O.B. The results of that decision and belief? Shattered finances, broken families, mass incarceration, and rising rates of suicide.
The betrayal of the New Deal is most clearly seen in our constant placement of Republicans, neoliberal Democrats, and other servants of plutocrats into high political office. And when, once in a while, a Bernie Sanders-type character comes along, with New Deal-style policy proposals, we say, "thanks, but no thanks. We want a Wall Street player, like Trump, or a Wall Street-funded player, like Clinton." And so today we have the very antithesis of the New Deal: A right-wing executive branch, managed by Goldman Sachs alumni; a right-wing Congress, managed by sociopathic billionaire donors; and a corporate ruling class, out to make both dynastic wealth and consumer debt permanent and ruthless.
Above: These young men are enrolled in the National Youth Administration (NYA), improving public schools in the area of Ponce, Puerto Rico, ca. 1935-1943. The NYA began as a WPA program, and employed millions of young jobless men and women across the United States and its territories. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
Puerto Rico would have benefited from New Deal-style work programs
Puerto Rico has had unemployment problems for a very long time. For example, the island's youth unemployment rate ("ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment") has varied between 20% and 34% for the last quarter-century, at least (see chart, "Youth Unemployment Rate for Puerto Rico," Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). Puerto Rico's overall unemployment rate was 10.1% this past August. Official information on Puerto Rico's labor participation rate is a little difficult to obtain, but according to the website Trading Economics, it was 39.7% in July of this year. That sounds about right.
If a new WPA, CCC, and NYA had been created for Puerto Rico, many of the unemployed could have obtained jobs repairing and modernizing the island's infrastructure - years and years before Hurricane Maria hit. And, just like the WPA, CCC, and NYA during the New Deal, they could have promptly responded to the storm's devastation (the WPA, particularly, had a well-managed and organized disaster response program, see here). And these programs would have responded much more effectively than the arriving soldiers, federal workers, and celebrity donations (although that type of help has a role to play too), because locals always know their homeland better than outsiders. For example, a WPA, CCC, and NYA "army" of Puerto Rican workers could have been sent out with chainsaws and/or handsaws to clear the island's roads of fallen trees, so that supplies could be moved quicker. They could have been sent out with walkie talkies and flares to let federal responders know where helicopters and supplies were needed the most (many Puerto Ricans in rural areas have said they haven't seen any federal assistance whatsoever - see the linked TIME article above).
The following is from the Final Report of the National Youth Administration, 1936-1943, p. 142. Compare it to the needs and problems of post-storm Puerto Rico, for example, washed out bridges, no drinking water, lack of fuel, communication problems, etc.:
"Types of work done by NYA youth during such flood emergencies as the Ohio River flood in 1937 included rescue of families and stock from flood waters; evacuation of families from endangered areas; making and distributing clothing, hospital garments, and bedding for flood refugees; cooking, preparing, serving, and distributing food to refugees in emergency flood stations; assisting in emergency health stations, clinics and hospitals; assisting Red Cross, county and city health and welfare departments, and other agencies in clerical work; providing messenger service to community agencies engaged in relief work; recreational work in refugee centers [especially valuable for young, traumatized children]; repairing cars and boats used in flood relief; taking charge of registration in health clinics and commissaries; making boats; cleaning city streets and public buildings; repairing public records and public library books damaged by floods; transporting food, fuel, and clothing for refugees; cleaning and sterilizing quarters used by Red Cross and the refugees; constructing temporary offices, walks, roads, bridges; constructing and equipping refugee centers; assisting in cleaning and repairing water mains and emergency telephone lines."
Above: Puerto Rican youth in the New Deal's NYA received training, a modest paycheck, and helped improve the common good. These young Puerto Ricans are doing routine maintenance on a police motorcycle. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
NYA disaster response highlights what's possible when we clear our minds of free market radicalism
The following is from the Final Report of the National Youth Administration, 1936-1943, p. 142. Compare it to the needs and problems of post-storm Puerto Rico, for example, washed out bridges, no drinking water, lack of fuel, communication problems, etc.:
"Types of work done by NYA youth during such flood emergencies as the Ohio River flood in 1937 included rescue of families and stock from flood waters; evacuation of families from endangered areas; making and distributing clothing, hospital garments, and bedding for flood refugees; cooking, preparing, serving, and distributing food to refugees in emergency flood stations; assisting in emergency health stations, clinics and hospitals; assisting Red Cross, county and city health and welfare departments, and other agencies in clerical work; providing messenger service to community agencies engaged in relief work; recreational work in refugee centers [especially valuable for young, traumatized children]; repairing cars and boats used in flood relief; taking charge of registration in health clinics and commissaries; making boats; cleaning city streets and public buildings; repairing public records and public library books damaged by floods; transporting food, fuel, and clothing for refugees; cleaning and sterilizing quarters used by Red Cross and the refugees; constructing temporary offices, walks, roads, bridges; constructing and equipping refugee centers; assisting in cleaning and repairing water mains and emergency telephone lines."
Will we learn?
The situation in Puerto Rico, along with some of the recovery problems related to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, are the canaries in the coal mine. As the oceans continue to warm, we can expect more and more damaging rain events. So, will we learn from all this? Will we shake off our apathy, turn off Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and pay closer attention to current events? Will we educate ourselves about public policy problems, and stop letting Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the corporate media create our opinions for us? Will we learn that we can't keep pumping crap into the atmosphere? Will we re-learn the lessons of the New Deal, for example, the tremendous value of the WPA, CCC, and NYA?
Of course not. We'll just blame Trump. That doesn't require as much mental energy as learning about our history and public policy, and it also let's us get back to more pressing matters, like Kylie Jenner, Facebook, and the Rich Kids of Instagram.
Above: These young women in Puerto Rico are employed in the NYA and are copying old, crumbling municipal records, ca. 1935-1943. New Deal policymakers understood the concept of market failure, and understood that sometimes the government must intervene when such failures happen and provide jobs, regulation, debt relief, etc. Today, unfortunately, much of the citizenry has devolved, and no longer believes that the market can fail. Instead, they've bought into the idea of a magical and wondrous free market, flawless and perhaps even supervised & managed by God. The results of this free market fanaticism have been disastrous for millions of struggling Americans, like the people of Puerto Rico. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.