Chef Jim Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 The wife and I were taking a walk last night and we saw a cement placard inscribed WPA 1940. It got me thinking. Whatever happened to all those shovel ready jobs that Obama promised? During FDR's New Deal the WPA and the CCC employed over 3 million people. I think we can all agree that our infrastructure is a mess and we have millions unemployed. I came to the conclusion that the Obama Administration is too afraid to put people to work in hard labor jobs. Forcing them to work for their unemployment is something politicians don't have the balls to do. My wife contends it's because of the unions. What say you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Nothing to do with unions. No body wants to do real work now days. Seems like all my friends in construction field have a very hard time finding people that want do do manual labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 Nothing to do with unions. No body wants to do real work now days. Seems like all my friends in construction field have a very hard time finding people that want do do manual labor. I know it has nothing to do with unions. That's just what my wife said. And I'm not talking about asking for volunteers. I'm looking at it this way. We temporarily do away with unemployment and give the "employment" checks. You have to work for your check. And if you can't work you have first prove it and then if your submission is approved you go on disability. Then Obama could say he reduced the unemployment to zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 It's not the unions. Much of the stimulus went info local pet projects, which didn't deliver the promised economic boost. Same with the WPA - if not for WWII the New Deal would have bankrupted the country eventually. That's why you have FDR truthers out there saying he promoted the war to save the economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Nothing to do with unions. No body wants to do real work now days. Seems like all my friends in construction field have a very hard time finding people that want do do manual labor. ^this Why work when you get money for nothing and health care for free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Nothing to do with unions. No body wants to do real work now days. Seems like all my friends in construction field have a very hard time finding people that want do do manual labor. In the immortal words of Judge Smeals, the world needs ditchdiggers too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 While I don't disagree with the posters here who have remarked about our decreased work ethic, there would also be a huge difference from the thirties with todays "projects" due to the vast overreach of the government today. You can't put up the smallest structure without jumping through the hoops of multiple,repetitive regulations, environmental studies, lawsuits, hiring requirements, and just, plain old opposition. Good luck to anyone trying to buck that, ironically enough, even the Feds would have trouble with it. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Exactly B-Man. I work for the fed and many years ago they decide to do away with smoking in all fed buildings. So, for the smokers at the field sites... They are gonna build shelters... Simple shelters. Yet, the agency gets engineering division innvolved and now we have these 5k shelters... Holy moly! You should have seen the blueprints for these things... All the finest materials, what not... LOL... These are the Caddy's of park shelters! You think a project like Chestnut Ridge Park would float today? The casino there would never get built the way it did... Just ADA requirements would send the cost skyrocketing. Also, one of the nice things with the past projects (say Letchworth) is that they built from local materials... You think that would float today? EVEN FOUND MATERIALS... Rocks, logs, what not... Each WPA, CCC project has a unique local feel. Today, every contractor and middleman will want their hand in the pie... Contractors upon contractors are the real problem. Just do it in-house with the locally obtained materials! Heck, you can't even get a cop to powerwash the blood off the street after an accident without sending the bill to the injured/deceased! We are a nation of "project managers" and endless contractors sub contracting... Oh... And say somebody should get hurt on the job... Things grind to a halt, not just for days... But months, maybe even years! You think you could house workers in tents anymore... Tent cities that is? LOL... Just look at after Katrina... I knew people who wnet down there doing QAing work the fed... What a racket they saw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Exactly B-Man. I work for the fed and many years ago they decide to do away with smoking in all fed buildings. So, for the smokers at the field sites... They are gonna build shelters... Simple shelters. Yet, the agency gets engineering division innvolved and now we have these 5k shelters... Holy moly! You should have seen the blueprints for these things... All the finest materials, what not... LOL... These are the Caddy's of park shelters! I've been on my share of Federal and Military facilities. It's amazing how much the Feds spend on anti-smoking propaganda for their workforce. Then there are the No-Smoking signs placed strategically. And oh yeah, building the varioius smokers gazebos placed in designated smoking areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinga Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Exactly B-Man. I work for the fed and many years ago they decide to do away with smoking in all fed buildings. So, for the smokers at the field sites... They are gonna build shelters... Simple shelters. Yet, the agency gets engineering division innvolved and now we have these 5k shelters... Holy moly! You should have seen the blueprints for these things... All the finest materials, what not... LOL... These are the Caddy's of park shelters! You think a project like Chestnut Ridge Park would float today? The casino there would never get built the way it did... Just ADA requirements would send the cost skyrocketing. Also, one of the nice things with the past projects (say Letchworth) is that they built from local materials... You think that would float today? EVEN FOUND MATERIALS... Rocks, logs, what not... Each WPA, CCC project has a unique local feel. Today, every contractor and middleman will want their hand in the pie... Contractors upon contractors are the real problem. Just do it in-house with the locally obtained materials! Heck, you can't even get a cop to powerwash the blood off the street after an accident without sending the bill to the injured/deceased! We are a nation of "project managers" and endless contractors sub contracting... Oh... And say somebody should get hurt on the job... Things grind to a halt, not just for days... But months, maybe even years! You think you could house workers in tents anymore... Tent cities that is? LOL... Just look at after Katrina... I knew people who wnet down there doing QAing work the fed... What a racket they saw! wow... hate to say it, but I agree largely with this.... I worked construction for many, many years and got totally sick to my stomach with the waste on every gov job I worked at the ridiculous approval process. If I had to move a wall even 1 inch, it could take me weeks, to get approval. Worst part was, the architects and engineers all certainly failed at math, and so none of their measurements ever worked out, making those delays for approval a sure thing. I was always convinced they got paid more for extra work to approve the changes.... To the highlighted part... Yeah, it would, and could, if administered right, make a lot of sense. But it is also supposed to be one of the main focuses of a LEED Project. I won't go into detail on what that is, google still works if folks don't know and it's a long explanation.... Suffice to say, I only worked a couple of them, since I was part of the "management" I studied to know what LEED was. But in our weekly meetings, was almost always over ridden when I tried to maintain local building materials, and often, even local workers. It was a dog and pony show, even bringing in cameras and setting up press shots, only to go back to normal as soon as they were all off site again... One of my favorites was bringing in a giant mulcher, and shredding a bunch of waste lumber and sheetrock (gypsum is good fertilizer) and adding it to the soil.... Lasted about 4 hours one day until the press was gone... Dog and pony.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 @ work last year... There was a HVAC project... My boss went out and got prices from local companies... All coming in under 100 grand... Nope... Had to get engineering innvolved and the contract finally went out to a contractor from Alabama... 400 GRAND! All the contractor did was milk it for everything it was worth while ragging on the gov't when they got picky with him. A lead test alone cost 12 grand. They didn't even do anything but take a sample... It was fine. Takes two to tango... And the contractors are milking it for everything it is worth... Then undermining the project. Everybody wants a sweatheart deal... That is the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 @ work last year... There was a HVAC project... My boss went out and got prices from local companies... All coming in under 100 grand... Nope... Had to get engineering innvolved and the contract finally went out to a contractor from Alabama... 400 GRAND! All the contractor did was milk it for everything it was worth while ragging on the gov't when they got picky with him. A lead test alone cost 12 grand. They didn't even do anything but take a sample... It was fine. Takes two to tango... And the contractors are milking it for everything it is worth... Then undermining the project. Everybody wants a sweatheart deal... That is the problem. The AL contractor was probably on the GAS schedule or something, so your boss had to go with them because the government was getting a "better deal." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 I know... I know. What a giant clusterphuck... You are exactly right. There are somethings that are changing though for the better... This wasn't one of them They could have bulldozed the whole building and built new for that price. And the system? Seems crappy. They (contractor) made a mint... Then all he did was rag on the gov't that they were being too strict. The general contractor was subing subs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinga Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 @ work last year... There was a HVAC project... My boss went out and got prices from local companies... All coming in under 100 grand... Nope... Had to get engineering innvolved and the contract finally went out to a contractor from Alabama... 400 GRAND! All the contractor did was milk it for everything it was worth while ragging on the gov't when they got picky with him. A lead test alone cost 12 grand. They didn't even do anything but take a sample... It was fine. Takes two to tango... And the contractors are milking it for everything it is worth... Then undermining the project. Everybody wants a sweatheart deal... That is the problem. Believe me, while I may not have been the "boss", I was usually the guy that ran the crew, so I know what was going on... Accountability... A long word many have trouble with now a days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdnlng Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 @ work last year... There was a HVAC project... My boss went out and got prices from local companies... All coming in under 100 grand... Nope... Had to get engineering innvolved and the contract finally went out to a contractor from Alabama... 400 GRAND! All the contractor did was milk it for everything it was worth while ragging on the gov't when they got picky with him. A lead test alone cost 12 grand. They didn't even do anything but take a sample... It was fine. Takes two to tango... And the contractors are milking it for everything it is worth... Then undermining the project. Everybody wants a sweatheart deal... That is the problem. So, the local fed guy had several quotes for under 100 grand and the feds ended up going with a contractor for 400 grand, and that's the contractor's fault? As a member of management for years, my philosophy was always to have the decisions made at the lowest level that made sense. The feds are so f'd up that they have no clue how to make decisions on anything less than a billion and anything more than a million. (I meant it the way I said it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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