Posted on 09/12/2005 7:07:50 AM PDT by Millee
The conventional wisdom in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is that government failed its citizens.
It did. Miserably.
So why is the near-universal solution from pundits and officials to propose more government?
Will we ever learn? When a plodding, inflexible bureaucracy breaks down on 9/11, what do we do? We react by creating an even less flexible super bureaucracy called the Department of Homeland Security.
Judging from the results of Hurricane Katrina, we'd do ourselves a favor by hiring nongovernmental entities such as Wal-Mart and the Red Cross to run homeland security.
I realize this concept will be sacrilege to some. But how could anyone who watched Hurricane Katrina unfold deny that privately run corporations operate in a more dexterous, aggressive and competent manner than the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security?
While FEMA fumbled about, Wal-Mart - yes, that evil emporium of low prices and union-free workers - had already committed $15 million to jump-start relief. Being kept out of the city, it had water trucks waiting at the city limits and was ready to establish mini-stores - for free - to distribute necessities in needed areas.
Wal-Mart did all of this without the benefit of planning and stocking for a hurricane disaster.
On the other hand, Homeland Security, a consolidation of 22 governmental agencies, should be prepared for everything: hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and Osama bin Laden.
Colorado homeland security received almost $38 million in grant money this year from the federal government.
But wisely, our state has also established ties with private companies and charity groups.
"Our emergency operations center activated last Saturday (Sept. 3), and we had the Red Cross and the Salvation Army in here," said Polly White, spokeswoman for the state's emergency management division. "We've always had a pretty good relationship with an array of private groups. As part of our emergency people, we have primary state agencies and then outside agencies. During Y2K, we had Xcel Energy in our operation center the whole time."
She also said Coors provided bottled water to firefighters during the 2002 fire season. White explains that Colorado first stretches ts "local resources and then your state resources to their extreme limits - only after that do you call in the federal government."
Federal government. Boy. That's when the real trouble starts.
We can only hope some corporate efficiency will eventually rub off on them.
Does anyone believe a Wal-Mart would hire a chief executive as incompetent and unqualified as former Colorado horse-trader and FEMA director Michael Brown?
Well, Brown was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote. Not a single Republican or Democratic senator saw any need to question his qualifications.
In Louisiana, while confusion still reigned, Wal-Mart sent 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise and 100,000 meals to victims and offered jobs to its displaced workers.
Even wicked pharmaceutical companies donated more than $25 million in cash and supplies. Exxon Mobil pledged $7 million, and almost every oil company pledged millions too.
I can see the e-mails now: Wal-Mart only involves itself in charity to enhance its image. It's all about the profit.
There have already been complaints leveled at companies such as home-
improvement giant Home Depot, which has benefited from the hurricane through a spike in its stocks.
Let us hope those investors are right about these corporations. Without profit motive, companies most equipped to help would have no incentive to arrive at the scene of a disaster.
It not fuzzy or warm. It's not compassionate. It just works.
We can only hope some corporate efficiency will eventually rub off on them.
Doubt it.
FAT GOVERNMENT?
"The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." - PJ O'Rourke
Wally World, to the wescue!
I guess I shouldn't bother troubling the writer with the fact that FEMA parters with groups such as the Red Cross for disaster relief.
What we are going to see in upcoming weeks is just how appalling misinformed pundits were as to the role that FEMA was supposed to play here.
I think FEMA needs a lot of changing - but not for the reasons the lib pundits are saying. FEMA needs to be more in the business of working with state and local governments beforehand to make sure evacuation plans are realistic and adequately funded.
It's a lot easier to get support to people sheltered outside a disaster zone than marooned within one.
Whether they wanted to or not. The next time they need to stock more plasmas though. I hear those things went like hotcakes.
When someone at Wal-Mart fails to know the best way to get generators and batteries to hurricane-threatened or devastated areas where demand for them is going to be very high, Wal-Mart loses a lot of money and he gets fired. When someone in government lets dozens of buses drown less than a mile and a half from the Superdome, he does not. That tells you all you need to know.
"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth." - Ronald Reagan
It hasn't been easy for journalists to thank Walmart and the other fine corporations that quickly stepped up to the plate -- but they've done it. So, a quick thanks all the way around. Oh yeah, Walmart, according to the Times Pickeune,( spelled wrong) was driving trucks in on back roads to get to NO flood victims first... Hats off to Walmart.
The Red Cross, Salvation Army and yes, even Wal-mart came in after Blanco relented her I-10 roadblock.
Now, if it is government of the people... and we elect those we want in govt, how is that the govt let the people down? Isn't it the people let the people down?
Vote for lazy shiftless pond scum cause they'll pad your welfare check and you'll get lazy shiftless scum when the chips are down and you need integrity.
"Wal-Mart outdid feds in gulf"
Hmmm --- the beginning of the CORPORATE FASCIST state perhaps?
ok - THIS is a real "tin-foil-hat" moment!
or is it?
Just getting rid of the Coors-light overstock...
Quote:
"Vote for lazy shiftless pond scum cause they'll pad your welfare check and you'll get lazy shiftless scum when the chips are down and you need integrity."
Couldn't have said it better!
You stopped reading too soon, he did.
"But wisely, our state has also established ties with private companies and charity groups. "
"I think FEMA needs a lot of changing - but not for the reasons the lib pundits are saying. FEMA needs to be more in the business of working with state and local governments beforehand to make sure evacuation plans are realistic and adequately funded."
FEMA does an incredible amount of work in helping state and local government develop disaster plans and helps negotiate pacts between states to lend each other aid in times of need.
They did all this in the case of Louisiana and New Orleans. They helped fund the creationg of disaster plans. The city of New Orleans didn't follow the plan that was developed.
It is not the place of the federal government to provide funding for disaster relief programs when the State and Local government are unwilling to fund those programs.
It's appropriate for the federal government to help fund such programs for poor communities, and they do that. New Orleans simply chose not to spend the money, it wasn't that they couldn't afford to do so if they were fiscally responsible.
There are a lot of people who are blaming the federal government for things they have no control over and shouldn't have control over. Our country is a republic. The state governors are in control of the National Guard, and the only way the President can overrule the Governor and take control of the Guard and send in the military is to invoke the Insurrection Act, saying basically that the state is rebelling against the federal government.
I don't think that happened in Louisiana. If the state governors don't have the power to screw up for a couple days without the federal government invading, they we aren't living in a Republic.
Voters need to elect competent governors, because a governor in in charge in an emergency, and if they aren't competent, bad things will happen. Governors have a lot of power and a lot of responsibility. The governor of LA failed when she was needed most. However, as the elected governor of LA, the federal government couldn't just step in and take over as long as she continued to refuse to allow them to do so.
He did not. He mentioned the state of Colorado establishing ties with groups such as the Red Cross.
But FEMA has ties as well. And the Red Cross was at the gates of New Orleans on Wednesday with food, water and hygiene assistance.
The state kept them out.
That isn't FEMA's doing, but incredible incompetence at the state level in failing to react to the situation at hand.
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