Why not start shouting that these long term unemployed who will be forced to work do something like Roosevelt\’s WPA?
And, given what you\’re all already shouting about, why not make it a Green WPA?
After all, you keep telling us that every house in the country needs lagging and insulating. The government\’s seemingly suggesting that they\’ve got to find something for 1.4 million people to do.
Here, free labour force for one of your pet plans.
It\’s not that I suggest to you that this is a good idea: it\’s that I cannot understand why you aren\’t already screaming this idea from the rooftops.
This has echoes of the ‘Green New Deal’ which, if I catch the drift, was put together by persons this blog is none too fond of.
[www.greennewdealgroup.org]
Tim adds: Indeed, I’ve just looked up the Green New Deal report and you could, if you squinted, make the case that they were proposing this.
I’m trying to place an article saying this right now…..
A scheme in Australia providing insulation paid for by the government resulted in four deaths of poorly trained workers, as well as hundreds of house fires. I suggest a similar scheme using typical unemployed lads rather than the general working population could have severe negative consequences….
In that case, have half of them dig ditches, and the other half fill them in.
Point of order: the death rate and the incidence of fires in the home insulation industry actually *fell* – however, because the programme massively increased the amount of insulation taking place, the absolute numbers rose. And because the press are innumerate, this became a widely-cited example of TERRIBLE GOVERNMENT FAILURE.