The idea of the Federal government becoming the employer of last resort, essentially guaranteeing everyone a job, is being floated. A quick web search finds articles about it in The New York Times, The Nation, and elsewhere.
The Soviet Union guaranteed everyone a job, although not their choice of job. The Soviet attitude was essentially this: we have to feed, house, and clothe everyone, why not put them to work? Little babushkas swept the sidewalks near their apartments, instead of mechanized street sweepers. Gangs of men with shovels and wheel barrows replaced construction equipment, badly.
Why this idea would surface here in an era of prosperity, when unemployment is at record lows, is unclear. And taking the failed Soviet Union as your model for anything seems counterintuitive, even for old lefties like Bernie Sanders.
FDR did some of this during the Great Depression, with his CCC and WPA. Facing 25% unemployment with no safety net, maybe it was okay, as a 'bridge' to better times. Today it makes no sense whatsoever. Times are good, unemployment is low, and real productive private sector jobs exist.
