On September 21, 2022 award-winning author and producer Steven Fenberg gave an hour long presentation entitled, ”Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good” as part of the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Publics Affairs’ The Hobby Hour.

Fenberg chronicled how the federal governmentʼs Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) expanded the U.S. economy during the Great Depression and transformed industry in time to win World War II. The indispensable agency was led by the legendary Jesse H. Jones, early Houston's preeminent developer and a primary figure in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration.

Fenberg described the federal agency's successful strategies and how they can be adapted to address today's challenges. He cited a current bill in Congress, HR3339, which calls for a $5 trillion National Infrastructure Bank which would invest in today’s crumbling U.S. infrastructure, just like the RFC did in the 1930s. 

Fenberg is the author of "Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good" and executive producer and co-writer of "Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?" an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary film narrated by Walter Cronkite.