The New York Times reports today that the governor of Tennessee and local authorities are cutting red tape and putting people to work with stimulus funds. To Create Jobs, Tennessee Looks to New Deal Model
LINDEN, Tenn. — Critics elsewhere may be questioning how many jobs the stimulus program has created, but here in central Tennessee, hundreds of workers are again drawing paychecks after many months out of work, thanks to a novel use of federal stimulus money by state officials.
"If I could have done a W.P.A. out there, I would have done a W.P.A. out there," said Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, referring to the Works Progress Administration, which employed millions during the Great Depression.
"I really think the president is trying to do the right thing with the stimulus," Mr. Bredesen said, "but so much of that stuff is kind of stratospheric. When you’ve got 27 percent unemployment, that is a full-fledged depression down in Perry County, and let’s just see if we can’t figure out how to do something that’s just much more on the ground and direct, that actually gets people jobs."
I loved this story about somebody besides financial finaglers benefiting from government spending. My grandfather was an electrician that traveled the country working on Works Progress Administration funded electrification projects in New York, Tennessee and the Hoover dam. My son is currently in a trade school earning his electrician's certification and hopefully infrastructure funds will be flowing more freely by the time he finishes in about six months.