Current Events - 201 - #28 - Opening “Katrina’s Box”!!!!

“Katrina’s Box!” has a whole set of issues that need to be thought about!!

1 – If many (20% to 40%) of the citizen’s of New Orleans are on some kind of Government assistance and (it is estimated that....) over 40% of the children live in “poverty”; what kind of program should be constructed that will “take care of” these people. What is “take care of”? .... What is the meaning of “support”?
Are the taxpayers who are not receiving Government assistance supposed to give money to “support” these people for the rest of their lives? What is “support”? To what degree?
Are the taxpayers supposed to provide “good paying” jobs for these people?
Are the taxpayers supposed to provide permanent “good housing” for these people?
How about “others” along the coast and inland that are also “in need”?

2 – In general, this brings up the question of what the US is supposed to do for those that either are poverty stricken, or, who remain unmotivated and are able to exist under their present circumstances. Nations have tried Communism, Socialism and outright Dictatorship to, at least, “control” the less advantaged. (That is, until the “mob” hits the streets!) This issue of what the “standard of living” by the majority will accept to “assist the less advantaged”, and, to what degree it is willing to provide “assistance”, has been an unspoken problem for our society. How much are you willing to reduce your own, personal standard of living to provide for some “others”?

3 – Will the US, as it stands now, have to change? Will the average standard of living have to decrease to take care of these new “refugees”? (Forget the illegal alien situation....that’s another burden!) This is the unspoken, third rail political situation. Think of the problem the US has in covering its own Social Security problem!..... It’s all a “money” situation. The nation does NOT have an unlimited budget!!!

4 – And what about the “war” situation? How much can our budget bare?

5 – Will the heart of our government speak about these issues?
Will the politicians speak?
Will any one risk the votes that may come from these issues?
Is this still a battle between the “haves” and “have nots”?
Can we afford now to “mumble “ this to death?

6- Do we have the time to think about the environment, gasoline prices, outsourcing, etc, if we have a true limitation to our resources? ...... Maybe we have “unlimited resources”? .... It sure would be nice to know! Should we “all” (including the media and the talking heads) be more concerned about the “Katrina’s Box” situation? ..... Isn’t money still the real issue?


BUT!!!

There is a “flip” side!!!

There are approximately 1,500,000 citizens involved in the Katrina catastrophe. But there are approximately 250,000,000 citizens in the US today. That’s less than 1% for the Katrina total!!!
Only approximately 40% of the so-called “victims” were already on Government aid programs. This was in the US budget, already. The only basically new thing is the government has to build new housing for the 40%. No new “except this “re-building” financial support has to be incurred.

What about jobs for the other 1,000,000 citizens? What about government aid for the 1,000,000 people who lost everything? If you give $10,000 to each one of them it will amount to $10 billion dollars! If you give $100,000 to each of the remaining 1,000,000 that amounts to $100 billion! But the present debt is over $7 trillion. That is 700 times the National debt we owe now! The yearly National debt is already about $400 Billion per year. What’s a $100 billion in 5 or 10 years!!

The politicians, who need the votes, and the media, that needs public opinion, are only concerned with what “looks good”! ..... Financially, all is possible! ..... That’s the “BUT” in all this. ......That’s the “flip side”!

So what’s it gonna’ be??





P.S........
Does the “War on Poverty” strike a bell?
The cry of “Eliminate poverty”!!
The cry that “The “poor” always suffer the most”!!

What’s possible in a Nation that is trying to keep its “standard of living” above the “poverty or third world” level? Can we compete and still “eliminate” poverty? Are these just slogans?
Do you really expect answers.... from anyone?


Just think about it!!
NO, not to find an answer! ... but just find a personal way to live with it.


PS II.......
Just in case you haven’t heard......
Louisiana had a Government approved plan to evacuate New Orleans. This included the 100 plus school buses that are still in the waterlogged parking lot. Their excuse is they could not get drivers for these buses!!
How much did the state of Louisiana get from the Federal government for these “evacuations”? Where did the money go? Why didn’t the Mayor of New Orleans do something BEFORE Katrina hit? He had at least two days....