Today in WPA Blogging

Mark Thoma excerpts an excellent little piece of John Steinbeck writing on the 1930s. I liked this part:

We didn't have to steal much... All over the country the WPA was working... [I]t was the fixation of businessmen that the WPA did nothing but lean on shovels. I had an uncle who was particularly irritated at shovel-leaning, When he pooh-poohed my contention that shovel-leaning was necessary, I bet him five dollars, which I didn't have, that he couldn't shovel sand for fifteen timed minutes without stopping. He ... grabbed [a] shovel. At the end of three minutes his face was red, at six he was staggering and before eight minutes were up his wife stopped him to save him from apoplexy. And he never mentioned shovel leaning again. I've always been amused at the contention that brain work is harder than manual labor. I never knew a man to leave a desk for a muck-stick if he could avoid it. ...

And it's true, shoveling is really hard work. But digging isn't all the WPA was about. The New York Times has a look today at the visible legacy of the WPA around New York:

[T[he W.P.A. did more than build or improve highways, parks, schools and hospitals. Artists executed murals still on display in government buildings on Long Island and throughout Connecticut. Writers compiled archives in New Jersey towns that had limited or no organized records. Actors and other performers entertained audiences through the Federal Theater Project, a vibrant part of the W.P.A.

"There's this stereotype that people who worked for the W.P.A. were all raking leaves," said Natalie A. Naylor, emeritus professor of history at Hofstra University and former director of the university's Long Island Studies Institute. "That's not really accurate at all. You had music programs and art programs in addition to construction projects."

Felix used this space to advocate for art-oriented stimulus, which I think is a good idea. My little idea for a stimulus plan is basically a large and temporary expansion of the community college system; pay some unemployed workers to teach classes explaining their valuable skills, and pay other unemployed workers to take them. But the main takeaway as that while it would be really nice to use this opportunity to make large and necessary investments in infrastructure, we needn't limit ourselves to that if there are constraints on how quickly and effectively it can be done. There are plenty of valuable ways to deploy idle labor.