solve unemployment by using FDR’s solution to unemployment (1932-1941 WPA)

What the federal government can and should do about unemployment in 2011 is what FDR did in 1934: institute a massive program of federal and state direct employment of the unemployed, to perform social services. FDR’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) created a massive labor army out of the unemployed. It was so massive that Republicans charged it was a Democratic vote gimmick. In 1934, there were 11 million unemployed (22%). The WPA, over its eight-year span, put 8.5 million people to work, at a cost of about $11 billion. Today $11 billion is about 22 billion. In 2008, TARP handout to banks was 700 billion; up to 8.5 trillion now. None of the bank handouts has helped people, even though it is the people’s money.