Another New Deal in Today's Government?

Excuse the cross-pollination for a second, but Megan McArdle over at our sister site, The Atlantic, has an interesting post about the obstacles facing the creation of a New Deal-style jobs program like the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Works Progress Administration. Some pundits -- especially the New York Times' Paul Krugman -- think that such direct employment programs are the best way to lift us out of double-digit unemployment. McArdle argues that with current bureaucratic rules, civil service protections, and politically connected public sector unions, they're simply not realistic, regardless of whether or not they'd be good policy.

It's a pretty good point. The federal government is a very different animal today than it was in the 1930's and 1940's. Here's McArdle:

Even if you could surmount union opposition, the federal government has an ever-increasing thicket of red tape that makes such a thing impractical. It takes months to get hired for a new job with the federal government. It takes months to ramp up a new program. By the time you'd gotten your NWPA through Congress over strenuous union objections, appointed someone to head it, set up the funding and hiring procedures, and actually hired people, it would be 2011. Maybe 2012. Perhaps you could waive all the civil service and associated procedures surrounding federal hiring, but I don't see how.

In fact, Congress did just that--on a much smaller scale. Many of the same issues arose with the Part-Time Reemployment of Annuitants Act, which made it easier for the government to re-hire former government workers on a part-time basis, without going through the civil service procedure. Ultimately, that act became law, once strong restrictions were placed on how long these part-time workers could work, and how many could be hired. Some unions still opposed it, but because it included that compromise--and because it was wrapped into other legislation which the unions desperately wanted--the overall opposition was relatively mild.

It's not the first loophole in the federal hiring process--as Alyssa has noted before, it's literally filled with them. But could you do the same thing for a larger project to hire thousands, maybe millions, or unemployed Americans? And would it be a good idea? Well, that's where it gets more complicated.