re: #630 Anymouse

Now all those who offered that “advise” are wanting the government to come and give them jobs so they don’t have to move out of their podunk towns or learn new skills themselves. Coal miners wanting the government to make mines hire them back, line workers hoping the government will create jobs for them at the local factory, etc, etc. All those “deficit hawks” who would bellyache at length about the “debt being left to their grandkids” now wanting the government to spend money giving them jobs.

Funny that…

Well, I’ll take issue with part of that.

What was it Franklin Roosevelt did during the Great Depression? Oh yes, he created jobs in these podunk towns where I live. Everything from the CCC to the REA.

As for “moving out of these podunk towns and learn a new skill”: Well there are problems with that as well.

Did you know for example in many (most?) rural areas you cannot get a home loan any more? If someone cannot get a home loan, that makes your home a lot less valuable to sell. (I would note here we paid cash for our house, we didn’t try to get a loan. When we first showed interest in it, the real estate agent noted no one would loan money to buy a house in this area.)

The most valuable asset most people own is their home. We were fortunate that we could buy our house here without having sold our house in Oklahoma first.

And “move somewhere and get a job and education” would be nice if there were jobs, education funds and a place to get one, and people would hire a middle-aged person somewhere that retrained for another job.

And these podunk towns are where an awful lot of the nation’s food comes from. No one can simply abandon the Great Plains and turn it into a giant park. I can’t even afford a parking space in California or New York City, much less an apartment. (One month’s rent would be about a tenth of the value of my house.)

As for the “deficit hawks,” that only seems to matter when its Democrats in power. When its Republicans, all of a sudden, to quote Dick Cheney, “Deficits don’t matter.”

I’m thinking we might have to go the route of Ontario and go for the “guaranteed minimum income” idea (welfare for all). It would certainly get rid of a lot of red tape and government duplication. (I’m pretty sure the GOP will scotch that idea.)

He’s talking about the double standard. None of us as far as I know have a problem with what was done in the Depression but we do have a problem with these same voters calling us moochers and then wanting the same government ot help them. IT’s the double standard not the desire. They want “big government” for them but not for everyone else and that’s the real reason the New Deal Coalition eventually fell apart.