OpEd: Why the CCC Bridge in Evansville Matters

Why would it be important to name a bridge the "CCC memorial bridge?" As I filmed the recent dedication, I wondered, but after I listened to the historian speak on the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corp in Evansville and Rock County, it became clear...In the depths of the Great Depression, FDR understood what all economic professors teach in Econ 101: That Human capital counts....and FDR moved quickly to have a mortgage foreclosure holiday, and also to employ the unemployed to work in worthwhile public projects...and the startling fact revealed in the presentation of the historian, and I do recommend you watch the video on the utube channel of the Evansville Observer, is that ALL of the projects worked on in 1933 are still existing....there were NO white elephants...that is simply startling.... And the second fact about FDR, is that he understood that families matter---and with the foreclosure holiday, he moved to seize the mortgages and make arrangements, because he understood that the banks, and here add National big banks, were unable to rise up and write down the mortgages...In the heat of the panic of 2008, the United States bailed out the big banks, who then got bigger and intimidated everyone.. Rather than solve the mortgage crisis it rather just delayed it...and eventually, we will have to remember the lesson of FDR, that human capital counts, and treating families fairly is a winning strategy... Every time I go over the CCC memorial bridge in Evansville, Wisconsin I think of this...and am grateful that it was named the CCC memorial bridge...