The Boiled Down Juice

I just read this article in Dollars and Sense magazine. It discusses Agrentina’s experiment with job creation while also exploring the possibilities of the Employer of last Resort Proposal, a government job plan somewhat similar to the WPA. Although much explored, public folklore’s deep roots with the WPA has always inspired and interested me. I wonder what models for our own work can be found in the WPA and the murals, archives, and books they left behind? Sure it was a flawed program. But flawed models are still models and they can be used and rethought. Mistakes can be learned from. Similarly, the Employer of Last Resort Proposal seems to be something folklorists should know more about– a key economic issue for those of us working at the intersection of local economies and cultural production.
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