The Next Big One
john posted in politics & culture on September 5th, 2005
A friend writes eloquently about her feelings in the aftermath of Katrina:
Progressive LA
OK, many of us already knew that Bush the emperor had no clothes, and lots of other people didn’t care. With lives to live and the assumption that politicians are all corrupt, maybe it’s just too much trouble to figure out. But maybe now a few more people will wake up. There is a difference between awkward, but well-meaning representatives, grinding away at the compromises of democracy, and the people who intentionally throw sand in the gears.
A very large ( too much for modems) satellite picture of New Orleans before the hurricane…
Wondering why more people didn’t leave on their own? Here’s a
report of how Louisiana police mistreated people trying to leave the city on their own.
For a start, how about all the business owners in South Louisiana and Mississippi ? You folks sent money to the Republican party, you got your picture taken with a pol, you went to prayer breakfasts and bemoaned the corrupted state of society. Well folks, you just got screwed. You were right about the corrupt society, but it turned out to be your chums that failed to show competence or compassion. Your pharmacy, or excavation service, or store is toast. You have no customers, no employees, and no suppliers. Even the President’s cronies in the oil and chemical industry got no help. ( And what were they thinking when they put refineries and chemical plants in the flood plain? ).
The LA Times reports that the head of FEMA was previously a commissioner of horse show judges, though he hid it in his official bio. Even though he was an obvious political appointee, he was allowed to actually run the agency. The head of Homeland Security moved disaster funds away from natural disasters to terrorism ( and what a great job they are doing ), and no one pre-positioned resources even though there was plenty of time to take action. Maybe they were on vacation, or maybe they just don’t believe in government.
FEMA, famously inept during Hurricane Andrew, was far more capable by the end of the Clinton era. Even if they start rebuilding the agency with a good will and full budget today, it will take years to get back to that level. Meantime what happens when The Big One hits again? Don’t expect any help from the Feds, you are on your own.
When it first became clear that there was no rescue effort, I jumped to the conclusion that we had the same old ugliness, where white Republican Dallas would have gotten help right away, but there were only black Democratic folks left in NO. And further NO may not have been defensible in the first place. After all, it’s called a disaster because we can’t cope with it.
But on reflection, the President’s cronies in chemicals, inland shipping, and oil have substantial investment in the area. Republican Mississippi has taken a major hit with the loss of casinos. In spite of clear warning days ahead, nothing was done to prepare. While the guys at the top like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove may be so cynical that they just are in it for the power and money, the other guys, like Grover Norquist and the thousands of neo-con operatives, actually believe the naive slogans about “ownership society” “less government” and “trickle-down economics.” Well the reason we got away from a distant and unresponsive federal government during the New Deal, was that it was bad for business, bad for society, and bad for the country as a whole. Disaster relief and massive infrastructure are precisely the kind of work that only the Feds can afford to do.
If Bush and the Republican Congress had taken responsibility for the domestic infrastructure, a job which we have well-funded with our tax money, some of this damage might have been averted, and the rescue effort would have been much swifter, safer, and cheaper. Thousands of small businesses are wiped out, insurance will be paying billions, and the nation’s economy, not to mention pride, have suffered a major hit. The Keynesian economic boost from the vast spending that will accompany the inevitable rebuilding, whatever form it takes, should have been created before the disaster, and with less government spending.
We truly do live in a banana republic, where even business infrastructure that would actually enrich those in power is neglected. The people running the country have little personal stake in our success, and no community conscience at all. Many of them don’t even believe in community responsibility. We here in California would be richer and safer if, in some theoretical world, we could leave the Union. We could build and prepare for disaster with our considerable tax money much better than the Feds do. And we are sure to have more fire and earthquake disasters on a regular basis.