Infrastructure Report Card: Schools: "D"

(WPA workers building a school on the eastern shore of Maryland in July of 1936. Image courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.)

The 2013 Infrastructure Report Card, by the American Society of Civil Engineers, gives American schools a "D", noting: "Public school enrollment is projected to gradually increase through 2019, yet state and local school construction funding continues to decline. National spending on school construction has diminished to approximately $10 billion in 2012, about half the level spent prior to the recession, while the condition of school facilities continues to be a significant concern for communities."

During the New Deal, the WPA employed the jobless to (among other things) work on schools. The WPA built about 6,000 new schools. They repaired and improved thousands more.

27 million Americans would like a full time job, but can't find one. Nearly 5 million Americans are considered "long-term unemployed" by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The current labor force participation rate in America is historically low. There is no WPA today. Few of our political "leaders" even discuss it.

Infrastructure Report Card: Drinking Water: "D"

In their 2013 American Infrastructure Report Card the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives the nation a "D" for drinking water. While the water quality, generally, does not pose a health risk, ASCE writes: "At the dawn of the 21st century, much of our drinking water infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life. There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks per year in the United States."

Consider this from Baltimore: "For the second time in six days, Baltimore's aging water system ruptured, affecting service to dozens of businesses and homes downtown and in Essex, including two hospitals, while snarling traffic and providing yet another unpleasant reminder of the region's crumbling infrastructure." (From "City's infrastructure problems continue with two water main breaks Monday," Baltimore Sun, November 12, 2012, see article here).

During the New Deal, WPA workers installed 16,000 miles of new water lines. This is more than enough water line to extend from Washington, D.C. to New Delhi, India, and then back to D.C. The fact that many of these water lines still serve us today (far beyond the time they were expected to) is a testament to the good work of our elders & ancestors.    

Today, there are about 27 million Americans who would like a full-time job but can't find one (see here). Today, our infrastructure deteriorates and there is no WPA. In fact, the majority of our political "leaders" do not even discuss a new WPA.

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

Infrastructure Report Card: Aviation: "D"

The 2013 Infrastructure Report Card, by the American Society of Civil Engineers, gives American Aviation a "D", noting: "Despite the effects of the recent recession, commercial enplanements were about 33 million higher in number in 2011 than in 2000, stretching the system’s ability to meet the needs of the nation’s economy. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that the national cost of airport congestion and delays was almost $22 billion in 2012. If current federal funding levels are maintained, the FAA anticipates that the cost of congestion and delays to the economy will rise from $34 billion in 2020 to $63 billion by 2040."

Worse, recent budget cuts (the so-called "sequestration") is reducing the effectiveness of air traffic control. (See, e.g., Sequestration Furloughs Air Traffic Controller One Week After Winning Award)

During the Great Depression, the unemployed were hired into the WPA to (among other things) build, improve, and repair airports. They worked on over 900 airports. Edgar S. Gorrell, president of the Airport Transport Association of America in 1940, said “When the history of civil aeronautics during its formative era is finally written, there will be a chapter on the activities of WPA which will be unstinted in its praise.”

There are 27 million Americans who would like a full-time job but can't find one (see here). There are nearly 5 million Americans who are described by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "long-term unemployed" (see here). We just received a "D" ("poor") on our aviation infrastructure. Our response? Ignore the unemployed and cut spending on airports.

(Image above is a WPA Poster, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Gorrell quote is from "Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Structure," by Alistair Gordon.)

A foreign “Boondoggle,” when we could have had a new WPA

(WPA workers on a bridge project)

Recent reports and developments are calling into question how much we’ve accomplished in Iraq over the past nine years. According to Huffington Post reporters Joshua Hersh and Chris Spurlock, “$800 billion was spent on the mission overall, a boondoggle that left more than 4,000 American service members dead, 32,000 more wounded, and an authoritarian government in place that is little better -- and possibly, owing to its closer ties to Iran, worse -- than the one that was taken out.” For $800 billion dollars we have “… chaos and impoverishment, hundreds of thousands of citizens dead and millions more displaced, and a vicious sectarianism that still threatens to rip the country apart at the seams.”

(See Iraq War Cost $800 Billion, And What Do We Have To Show For It?)

According to a recent Gallup Poll, most Americans view the Iraq War as a mistake and, interestingly, older Americans are more likely to disapprove of the Iraq War.

 (WPA workers on a road project)

In any event, as we’ve been spending eight hundred thousand million dollars in Iraq, we’ve done very little on the domestic front to address our unemployment and infrastructure problems. There are about 27 million Americans who would like a full-time job but can’t find one (see http://www.njfac.org/); a problem Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called “a waste of human and economic potential.” Further, the just-released 2013 Infrastructure Report Card by the American Society of Civil Engineers shows little improvement in the quality of our bridges, dams, roads, schools, etc., from 2009—giving the country a D+. Meanwhile, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis) is peddling a budget that cuts spending on American infrastructure (see, e.g., here), and Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have created a new CCC-type program for unemployed veterans (see here).  

For eight hundred thousand million dollars we could have (easily) created a new WPA and CCC. This would have provided opportunities for millions of unemployed Americans to return to the job market, and improved the nation’s transportation, utility, and environmental systems.

Why didn’t we?

(A WPA-built school; still used today)

Ronald Reagan wrote, “The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR’s alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges, and other projects…it gave men and women a chance to make some money along with the satisfaction of knowing they earned it.” (From his autobiography, "Ronald Reagan: An American Life," 1990)

(Black & white images courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives. Color photo by Brent McKee. Image of WPA sign courtesy of the National Archives) 

Is this the reason we don't have a new WPA?

A 2011 study conducted by researchers from Northwestern and Vanderbilt universities suggest that only 19% of the very wealthy feel that government should “see to it” that people who want to work can get a job, and only 8% of the very wealthy agree with the idea that the “federal government should provide jobs…for everyone able and willing to work who cannot find a job in private employment.”

(See study here)

Among the general public? 68% and 53%, respectively.

The authors of the study write: “The New Deal idea of public employment apparently lives on in the minds of many Americans (though they are seldom given a chance to tell pollsters about it), but it has been rejected by the wealthy and by a consensus in Washington.”

If true, what a shame. Many Americans who lose their jobs--and have trouble finding new comparable jobs (or any jobs at all)--often lose their health insurance, their homes & apartments, and their ability to feed their families. They also see their credit rating destroyed and often have to declare bankruptcy--two things which can make it even harder to find employment again. Further, some people fall into depression and, in extreme cases, some people even kill themselves because of financial devastation.

Art Classes for Children

The WPA promoted art instruction for children:

(WPA poster. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.) 

The WPA offered art classes for children:

(WPA art class at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore. Image courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.)

The WPA operated nursery schools for children of lower-income working parents, as well as for the children of parents who were involved in the defense industries and the military (during World War II). In these nursery schools, children could participate in educational & creative activities:

 (Children painting at a WPA nursery in San Francisco. Image courtesy of the Franklin Roosevelt Library.)

Some people say that the WPA was a waste of money. I don't understand that type of thinking.

Boondoggles, or Beautiful Parks?

"Now, a lot of people remember it as boondoggles...raking leaves...Maybe in some places it was. Maybe in the big city machines or something. But I can take you to our town and show you things, like a river front that I used to hike through once that was a swamp and is now a beautiful park-like place built by WPA."

--Ronald Reagan (from the book In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to George W. Bush, by William Leuchtenburg)

(Ronald Reagan at Camp David. Camp David was a joint CCC/WPA project. Image courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)