Perspective on weather disaster in west vs Katrina

I work for the Red Cross and did a lot of work with Katrina victims and many times I saw the exact opposite. I think its unfair and dangerous to stereotype, especially when making a claim like that. And also the government's failure to create a working system to distribute relief aid has contributed the entitlement mentality of some.

Aid is good, but restrictions and limits are important. I think Clinton's welfare bill that placed restrictions on when and how long you can get welfare is an example of what I'm talking about. But such a system wasn't put in place for Katrina aid programs.

My point being that the system deserves as much if not more blame than the people. People are people and there will always be some who try to take advantage of it. For you to somehow label the people of New Orleans as some sub-human parasites ignores the complexities surrounding New Orleans (and the gulf coast) before and after Katrina.

 

It's a pity that the nation has sunk to the level of chest-thumping over how a disaster was handled. What happened with the blizzard was certainly a disaster on the individual and local/state level. Those affected aren't wasting time wondering about how their situation compares to Katrina, I'm sure. Not something that couldn't be handled, however, and it's being handled. What happened to New Orleans and the rest of that Gulf area from Katrina, and the bungling prior to and after the event by a host of people and entities has no valid comparison, except to say that yes, both were disasters. There are countless untold acts of kindness, bravery, and charity in both. Katrina is of a scale to dwarf any modern tragedy that has happened to this country. Why even attempt a comparison? It's not fair to any of those involved.

The racism on display in the original e-mail wasn't subtle at all. More like using a two-by-four.



D&D. Take a two-by-four and Build a Dog House.

 

People who live in Western states like Colorado often like to talk about how self-sufficient they are and how they don't need government yet forget that without federal funded water and power projects that they wouldn't be able to farm and ranch out there in the first place. Try telling them that maybe they should be paying market value to graze and mine federal land or that maybe agricultural subsidies should be reduced and they will be up in arms about how the government isn't helping to support them. For that matter when a disaster like the blizzard or huge fires they will complain like Ray Nagin if the government doesn't come in and help them with rescuing livestock or fighting fires.

This whole myth about Western self-sufficiency versus NOLA dependency is a myth. When the sh^t hits the fan both places are going to be looking for the government to help them out.

 

Pretty good article on the welfare situation in New Orleans. I'm not familiar with the website, but the author is a director at the Cato Institute.



New Orleans Poor Are Victims Twice: The Storm and Failed Welfare State
Posted by Michael D. Tanner - Cato Institute on Wednesday September 14, 2005 at 11:16 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]

Michael Tanner is director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute.

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The terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has brought to the forefront the plight of New Orleans' underclass. While most Americans saw the city in light of Mardi Gras, jazz and Bourbon Street, tens of thousands of New Orleans citizens lived lives far removed from the "let the good times roll" attitude of the French Quarter. Their plight received little notice until the storm and flooding brought pictures of their suffering into our living rooms.

Some commentators are now claiming that New Orleans poverty was a result of "the shredding of the social safety net." The implication is that, if we had only been willing to spend more money, much of the unfolding tragedy could have been avoided. In reality, however, the federal government has spent nearly $1.3 billion on cash welfare (TANF) in Louisiana since the start of the Bush administration. That doesn't count nearly $3 billion in food stamps. Throw in public housing, Medicaid, Child Care Development Fund, Social Service Block Grant and more than 60 other federal anti-poverty programs, and we've spent well over $10 billion fighting poverty in Louisiana. This doesn't even begin to count state and local welfare spending. Shredding the social safety net? Hardly. Welfare spending rose steadily throughout the Bush administration.

Yet, nearly a third of New Orleans residents had incomes below the poverty line, one of the highest poverty rates of any major American city. Statewide, Louisiana's poverty rate is fourth highest in the nation. The state's child poverty rate is the country's second worst. When it comes to fighting poverty in New Orleans, we've spent billions, and accomplished almost nothing.
Making this failure even worse, we've long known the keys to effectively fighting poverty. The first of these is a quality education. Those who graduate high school with the skills necessary for employment are far less likely to end up in poverty than those who don't. But New Orleans schools are a dismal failure. More than 40 percent of the city's adults are functionally illiterate, and the school dropout rate is estimated between 35 and 50 percent. Yet the state has repeatedly rejected attempts to give students in failing schools more choice. The state has one of the nation's weakest charter-school laws. The legislature has regularly killed proposals for even limited voucher programs, most recently in June of this year. Even public-school choice is weak and limited.
Having children without being married is one of the surest routes into poverty for women and their children. Forty percent of babies born in Louisiana are out of wedlock, second highest in the nation. Roughly 80 percent of teen births are out of wedlock. In New Orleans, the out-of-wedlock birth rate is roughly 60 percent and an astounding 96 percent of teen births are to unwed mothers. Study after study has shown the link between welfare payments and out-of-wedlock birth. Louisiana's welfare policies seem oblivious to this connection. Not only does the state have no cap on benefits for additional children born out of wedlock ? a program found to reduce illegitimacy in other states ? but the state continues to offer benefits to set teen mothers up in homes of their own, "independent" of their parents.

Of course, jobs are another key to fighting poverty. Unemployment in Louisiana runs above the national average. New Orleans unemployment ran nearly a full percentage point higher than the national rate. Part of this was undoubtedly due to the state's general hostility to business. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation puts Louisiana in the bottom half of its rankings for state business tax climate. The Public Policy Institute of the Business Council of New York rates Louisiana 40th of the fifty states in terms of economic freedom. The state's tort-prone legal system is rated 47th.

And, finally, we know that asset accumulation plays a vital role in escaping poverty. Yet many of those most vocal in decrying the poverty of New Orleans, have been in the forefront of blocking President Bush's proposals for allowing workers to save and invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there will justifiably be calls to do something about the poverty that existed unseen in New Orleans and still exists in so many cities across America. Most of those speaking longest and loudest will be telling us to pour more money into various welfare programs. Doing so will help salve our conscience and tuck the poor safely out of sight until the next disaster forces us to face the consequences again. But it will do little to help these people escape poverty.

The poor of New Orleans have been victims twice: of the storm and of the failed welfare state. As we pick up the pieces, let's not victimize them a third time. Let's try fighting poverty in ways that work.

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=25500

 

LOL, way for the cato institute to use a massive human tragedy which demonstrate the failure of a do-nothing government to push right wing pet projects like the President's failed social security privatization scheme.