October 10, 2005
Economic News
:Unemployment, which was expected to spike rapidly on the heels of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, only rose modestly in September. Department of Labor statistics revealed that the economy lost 35,000 jobs last month. Job creation across the nation made up for the losses in the Gulf states and many companies have continued to pay displaced New Orleans workers in the aftermath of the disaster.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Economy, Hurricanes)
October 3, 2005
Hurricane Aftermath
:A week and a half after Hurricane Rita appeared to have been a ‘dud’, it has become obvious that while the hurricane missed the major cities along the gulf, it has devastated the rural areas. Entire towns have been erased from the map. Over 100 lives were lost to go along with the over 1,000 lives from Hurricane Katrina. Economically, the hurricanes caused consumer spending plunging at the highest rate since the September 11th terrorist attacks and over 279,000 new claims for unemployment insurance from the hurricanes. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress has began wrestling with the costs of rebuilding the region. The Louisiana delegation has proposed a $250 billion dollar bill to rebuild the region.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Economy)
Hurricane Politics
:With gas prices soaring after the hurricane damage, President Bush proposed that Americans begin to conserve gas. This is in stark contrast to Dick Cheney’s comments in 2001 when he stated that “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy.” Bush singing a different tune this week stated, “We can all pitch in.” Meanwhile, former FEMA Director Michael Brown appeared before the U.S. Congress and blamed local officials for the mistakes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His comments, however, have been questioned, especially by the New York Times that pointed out that his comments contradicted an interview he gave that paper earlier in the month.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, Politics)
Commentary - Rebuilding the Gulf Coast
:With the President’s announcement that he will seek $200 billion to rebuild the Gulf and the Louisiana delegation’s request for $250 billion, it is time to begin to end simple sympathy and begin to talk about the rebuilding of the Gulf states. It is important to begin this dialogue now, before it is accepted that the government will spend that much money because if Louisiana gets its way, the Federal Government will be contributing $50,000 for every resident in the state. This would be in addition to the billions already spent in rescue in recovery. This is just insane.
To make matters worse, the proposals do not even begin to address the real problems revealed by the storms. It is clear that the Federal and State governments did not pay enough attention to the levy system. Further, nationally, Federal flood insurance has allowed people to build in regions that the private sector will not ensure. When storms happen, millions of dollars of damage must be paid by the Federal Government, which could be dealt with by our private insurance groups. Both of these things are not fully addressed by the Louisiana money grab.
The nation showed great generosity in the aftermath of the two hurricanes that slammed into the coast. It provides an amazing moment for the nation to realign certain priorities and streamline certain regulations and bureaucracy to make for a better emergency response system and a better life for all Americans on the coast. But that opportunity does not include corporate and personal welfare that exceeds any amount of fiscal sanity or necessity. The debate over how much money is spent to rebuild the region should not begin from such an inflated number but instead from how much is actually needed. And that will take some time to identify and figure out.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Commentary, Politics)
September 10, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Aftermath
:Hundreds, maybe thousands are dead as the cleanup and recovery effort begins throughout the Gulf States as nearly a million people have been internally displaced throughout the United States (over a quarter of a million in Texas alone). In New Orleans, police ordered additional evacuations this week and have begun to forcefully remove people as the worry now shifts to waterborne diseases. By week’s end in New Orleans, the water was beginning to recede and be pumped out and the belief now is that the death toll will be less than expected, although hundreds may have died needlessly when they were not immediately withdrawn in the aftermath.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina)
Federal Response
:Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney visited the Gulf States this week as the largest federal effort in U.S. history actually began to reach the victims of the storm. Congress rushed through over $60 billion in aid to the area, vowing that it may be only the beginning. Despite this, the effort has been much maligned due to the lag in the disaster to aid reaching the victims. In response, Friday, the President recalled FEMA Director Michael Brown, who had received much of the criticism. He is replaced as commander on the ground by the head of the U.S. Coast Guard.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, Politics)
Politics
:Democrats attacked the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, especially the role of President Bush and FEMA Director Michael Brown throughout the week. It was an easy target as five of the top eight officials within FEMA had no experience with emergency relief when they joined the agency. Meanwhile, the President’s off-key appearances feed the flames that he was not up to the task. Even Bush supporters had to agree to investigate what went wrong with Republicans in Congress were creating a committee to investigate. Democrats threatened to boycott the committee calling it a “partisan whitewash.”
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, Politics)
Economics
:Expectations are that the Federal costs of the hurricane will exceed $100 billion, while insured losses is estimated between $20 and $35 billion dollars. Experts believe that the U.S. economy should be able to handle the shock of the storm but it will be difficult. Over 1 million jobs have been lost in the region at least temporarily. But that is just the beginning of the economic pain as the port of New Orleans is maybe the most important port in the country. Oil prices have skyrocketed over $3 in most of the country and farmers could lose all much of their crop if they cannot find a new path to ship their products overseas.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Economy)
Hurricane Ophelia
:Over the weekend, the coast is again preparing for a hurricane early next week. Hurricane Ophelia has been hovering just off the eastern Florida coast. The storm is expected to hit land somewhere between the peninsula and the Carolinas early in the week.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters)
Commentary - The Conservative Safety Net
:The references to the difference between President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina and his response to 9/11 probably became almost unbearably nauseating this week. But columnists would not be doing their job if they did not point out the obvious – a true conservative cannot deal with this type of disaster. They just are not ready for it. Their whole mindset is wrong. In the end, President Bush could not respond as well as he did after 9/11 because he had already ruined any opportunity to provide the response he needed to.
Why was Bush’s response different than how he responded to 9/11? Well, natural disasters require a government to mobilize and provide social programs that provide people aid that are in need. A social safety net has to be provided. But anti-big government Conservatives do not believe in safety nets. They believe in cutting things like levies for rivers, Medicare, and public transportation systems. Everything that could have been in place to provide aid had been cut by this administration and this Congress.
To make matters worse, the National Guard has been stretched thin by the war in Iraq and FEMA was turned into an office for those that were politically loyal to the President. It was all a recipe for disaster. No wonder the President didn’t know what to do this week – his political philosophy crashed around him. Conservative thought was dead. Government is needed. Services are need to be provided. His belief in the need for a lack of a safety net was shown to be false when that lack of a safety net failed to hold anyone up.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, Commentary, Politics)
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