Monday, August 27, 2018

The New Deal Worked: Rising wages

Above: Formerly-jobless Americans, now WPA workers, get their paychecks in Detroit, Michigan, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

The New Deal increased wages

During the New Deal, wages increased. For example, here is the year-by-year, average weekly earnings for American manufacturing workers:

1929: $25.03 (Stock Market crash; caused by "limited government" fanaticism.)
1930: $23.25
1931: $20.87
1932: $17.05
1933: $16.73 (New Deal starts; more policies for regular Americans, less pampering the wealthy.)
1934: $18.40
1935: $20.13
1936: $21.78
1937: $24.05
1938: $22.30
1939: $23.86
1940: $25.20
1941: $29.58
1942: $36.65 (Full involvement in World War II starts; thus, even more government spending.)
1943: $43.14
1944: $46.08
1945: $44.39

Not only did workers earn more per week, but they also worked less. For example, in 1929 manufacturing workers worked an average of 44.2 hours per week to earn their $25.03. By 1940, they were only working 38.1 hours to earn $25.20. Less time at work means more time with family and friends, more time for recreation, and more time to simply rest.

(Source of statistics: "Employment and Earnings," U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 1960, p. 29.)  

The New Deal increased real wages too

It's a good thing, of course, when wages increase; but it's even more meaningful when "real wages"--that is, wages as compared to the cost of goods and services--increase as well. Because that means paychecks are going further and have more value. And during the New Deal, real wages skyrocketed. Policies for the people, such as work-relief for the unemployed, protections for unions to negotiate better wages, and massive infrastructure projects, lifted American workers up.

Above: This chart shows real wages for American workers, for the periods 1871-1913 and 1924-1944. Notice the period of stagnation, from 1924-1933, followed by a supercharged increase during the New Deal years. This chart is from Gerhard Bry, "Wages in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States," p. 278, in Gerhard Bry (ed.), Wages in Germany, 1871-1945, Princeton University Press, 1960. Image used for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Today, we settle for the illusion of wage increases


Above: "False Dimensions," a lithograph by Lucien Labaudt (1880-1943), created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

All across the mainstream media, and all across the Internet, centrist and right-wing economists and commentators have been telling us how wonderful things are. Trump and his supporters tell us that he's worked magic with the economy and we're all doing better, thank God! But here's the funny thing: Trump's own Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) tells us that our paychecks aren't going as far as they used to. For example, in the Real Earnings Summary for July, we learn that for most workers, "From July 2017 to July 2018, real average hourly earnings decreased 0.4 percent" (and the BEA real earnings reports before this one paint the same general picture of stagnation or reduction; also see "For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades," Pew Research Center, August 7, 2018). 

Why the discrepancy, between what we're told and reality? I would suggest the following three reasons:

1. Trained to flap our flippers at the wrong economic indicators

Collectively, we've been trained to judge the economy primarily by the stock market and the unemployment rate. But what good is the stock market to the average American if nearly all the gains end up in just a few wealthy hands? And though the unemployment rate is important, it has little impact on workers who are already employed. Ask yourself: Has your paycheck corresponded with the unemployment rate? In other words, when unemployment goes up, does your paycheck go down? And when unemployment goes down, does your paycheck go up? Some people might respond, "yes," but I bet most would respond, "not really."  Again, the unemployment rate is important, but not nearly as important to most workers as other indicators, such as real wages, consumer debt, and apartment rental costs.

2. Our team captain MUST be praised 

The second reason (many of us) have been convinced that the economy has made an amazing recovery is because critical thinking has taken a back seat to the cult of personality. Tens of millions of Americans don't analyze reports, numbers, history, and statistics; instead, they just nod their heads to whatever Donald Trump, Sean Hannity and, for that matter, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama tell them. In other words, the reality is less important than the propaganda. The propaganda makes them feel good, makes them feel like they're on the winning team.

3. The rich like us stupid

The third reason we're being duped is because it benefits the rich. If we think we're doing great, even when we're clearly not, then we're less likely to seriously challenge the status quo of inherited wealth, tax evasion by the rich, financial fraud, usury, stock market manipulation, ruthless barriers to debt relief, etc. The rich know this, so they provide a steady supply of funding to their puppets in government, media, and think tanks - more and more cash to feed the propaganda juggernaut.

Reality check

Here's the painful truth: The New Deal improved our paychecks for decades. But the period after that, roughly the last 40 years or so, has been sh&t for most Americans. Goosestepping behind Dear Leader--be it Trump or be it Obama--doesn't change that reality.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

New Deal Art: "WPA Art Class Painting"

Above: "WPA Art Class Painting," a color lithograph by Eleanor Coen (1916-2010), created while she was in the WPA, 1940. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: The WPA offered many art opportunities to youth during the 1930s and 40s, for example, art classes and exhibitions of their work. In this photo, we see two boys painting a mural in a town hall in Montague, Massachusetts, as part of a WPA recreation program, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The WPA worker who twice wore the Hope Diamond

Above: May Yohe, unknown date (but probably around 1900-1905). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

May Yohe (1869-1938) was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and became a world renown actress in the late 1800s. She married Lord Francis Hope of England, owner of the Hope Diamond, and she wore that famous stone on two occasions. 

After her marriage to Lord Hope, however, Yohe led a life of near-constant rise and fall - both in love and fortune: marrying and divorcing, venturing into this business or that business, acquiring and losing large sums of money, and even farming for a while.

In her older years, serious financial and health problems arose for Yohe and her husband, Captain John A. Smuts. So, she took a job as a WPA clerk in April 1938, transcribing Boston's vital records (for example, births and marriages) from "ancient ledgers to card catalogs," for $16.50 a week. But Yohe took things in stride, shut down the notion that she was the latest victim of the Hope Diamond curse, and said: "I've had this job three weeks and I'm proud of it. I'm happier than ever before" ("May Yohe, Once Star, Found As WPA Clerk," Oakland Tribune, May 4, 1938) 

But even though Yohe had a bluntness and spirit that would have made WPA chief Harry Hopkins proud too, she wasn't entirely immune from wistful remembrance: "Sometimes I dream of the lights and the music and the applause and I wish I could go back to the stage for a while" ("May Yohe, Once Stage Darling of Two Continents, Owner of Hope Diamond, Dies In Poverty After Working For WPA," Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), August 29, 1938).

Perhaps if Yohe had lived just a little bit longer, she could have found a role in the WPA's Federal Theatre Project... for one last show, one last season under the lights, and one more round of applause.

"I wore it twice and didn't care if I never wore it again. It looked like a bum sapphire. Why I gave the old stone more publicity than it ever had before or since."

--May Yohe, discussing the Hope Diamond (see Pensacola News Journal article cited above.)

Sunday, August 5, 2018

WPA workers vs. dogs, snakes, spiders, scorpions, bees, and vicious fish

Above: A mobile first aid unit for a large WPA project in Mobile, Alabama, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

WPA workers sometimes faced insect and animal hazards on the job. Here are a few accounts:

In March 1940, John Barnum of Port Huron, Michigan was bitten by a dog while working on a WPA project ("WPA Worker Bitten," The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan), March 23, 1940).

In May 1940, Leonard Morrow of Thickety, South Carolina, felt a bite on his back and then killed what was likely a spider. He then became very ill and was taken to the hospital ("WPA Worker Bitten By Poisonous Spider," The Gaffney Ledger (Gaffney, South Carolina), May 23, 1940).

In August 1939, a WPA inspector was walking through high weeds, looking over some work, when he was bitten by a snake. After his foot began to swell, his doctor had him admitted to a hospital for some type of surgical treatment ("WPA Inspector Bitten By Snake," Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Illinois), August 1, 1939).

Herman Barnes, of Flintstone, Maryland, was bitten by a Copperhead while working on a WPA road project. He was given anti-venom and apparently recovered ("Man Bitten By Snake," The Baltimore Sun, June 5, 1938). 

WPA worker Clinton Elijak was severely bitten by a pickerel (a toothy, fast-moving, and barracuda-like freshwater fish) while clearing brush from Many Point Lake in Minnesota in August 1938 ("WPA Worker Bitten By Bold Pickerel," Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), August 13, 1938).

WPA engineer John Ryan was bitten by a rattlesnake while walking along a highway improvement project in Casa Grande, Arizona, March 1936. The bite was not life-threatening ("WPA Engineer Bitten By Rattler," Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), March 15, 1936).

In June 1937, a Copperhead bit WPA worker Charles Fagley in Pennsylvania, and struck at another, before it was killed. Fagley's arm "swelled rapidly" and he was rushed to a hospital ("Bitten by Copperhead," Republican and Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) June 18, 1937). 

Near Billings, Montana, March 1938, a scorpion crawled up the pant leg of WPA worker A.W. Brown and gave him a nasty sting, causing serious but probably not life-threatening illness ("Local WPA Worker Stung By Scorpion," The Billings Gazette, March 12, 1938). This was most probably the Northern Scorpion

WPA worker Roger Harris was stung by many bees while clearing out stumps on a WPA project in Texas, June, 1938 ("Speed Is Shown By WPA Worker; Hits Bees' Nest," The Eagle (Bryan, Texas), June 18, 1938).

WPA worker Alfred Berg was bitten by a Black Widow spider in Ohio, September 1939, but "given a good chance of recovery by attending physicians" ("Bitten By Spider," The Coshocton Tribune, (Coshocton, Ohio), September 7, 1939).

Pennsylvania resident James Ekins was working on a WPA project in March 1936 when he was bitten on the hand by a dog ("Bitten By Dog," The Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), March 28, 1936).

Above: A WPA safety poster. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.