I dont know what hopkins did. What did he do? I suspect you will call this more socialist than what obama's doing or more importanly not doing.
At first, FDR handed the task of creating jobs to Harold Ickes. But he was moving too slowly -- FDR's intent was to get things rolling at once, and Ickes was moving too slowly.
Hopkins was one of the key designers of the New Deal and was particularly responsible for getting the WPA off the ground. At any rate, FDR transferred this responsibility to Hopkins after Ickes failed to deliver.
My real point, though, is that FDR wanted the job creation to happen fast and to be short-term in duration.
Of course, as we now know, as soon as he began cutting back on government spending, the "Roosevelt Recession" cranked up. Hopkins did what needed to be done, which was to deliver near-instantaneous relief. But in the end, you can't solve the problem by putting people to work for the government.
It is better than providing them with unemployment benefits, "free" health care, and food stamps, though, which is what we're seeing in this bill. Put them to work; at least the taxpayers get something out of it.
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