[Peace-discuss] Louisianne

[Lisa Chason]

Interesting letter that someone forwarded to me:


Dear Carol-Ann,

Through my mind...

That America is increasingly a place where the rich are getting a bigger
share, and probably sit there laughing at the poor and middle classes
who are fighting it out for the crumbs. 

I don't think there was any error made by anyone in Louisiana. I think
everything that occurred is perfectly within the boundaries of current
national policy in the US: everybody is expected to fend for
him/herself, which means the rich come out OK on every level...
education, health, insurance, accumulating more wealth, etc. and the
others rely on luck, expecting less and less from a government where the
buck is being passed further and further on, now finally reaching god...
and so prayer is replacing national policy.

When I was taking an Honor's Colloquium on the Enlightenment (in New
Orleans, by the way), I argued that early economist Adam Smith's
perfectly economic system was completely flawed, even in the abstract,
because elements were missing. He said supply and demand search eventual
balance and during the process the economy grows. Awfully similar to the
Bush/Republican concept. My argument was when demand exceeds supply or
when supply is inaccessible to demand, that the inconveniences affect
production capacity and social organization. For instance, not even
mentioning revolution or crime, if you let people die in the streets
because they are cut off from supply (no jobs, no money = no home, no
food), disease and loss of potential workforce can permanently erode the
basis of wealth and hobble development for a generation or more.

The fact that America's poor and middle classes are increasingly
surviving on credit, while the rich accumulate weath in the form of
tangible assets that contiue to increase in value, is not an
economically sound situation and can only lead to abuses and an
undermining of social organization.  

I think the Homeland Security's head is a brilliant example of the sorts
of people who fill that kind of vacuum (OKed by all senators, Democrat
as well as Republican, except for Hillary Clinton, a 99 to 1 vote). This
guy was rewarded for his work on the Whitewater investigation and then
his help and advice on 9/11. The 9/11 policy included rounding up 800
muslims, some clerics, some bankers, some businessmen, and holding them
illegally: no charges, no phone call, no access to a lawyer, and
spawning a remarkable attitude that sometimes the law has to be
disrepected and that any information obtained was more important than
the manner in which it was obtained. Of course he's not only a US
citizen. He's also an Israeli citizen, and so I don't know if he would
have taken the same measures if some radical Jews had carried out the
attack. So now he ends up the ultimate head of national security and of
national response to emergencies. And the first thing he does is issue a
public statement listing the places most sensitive and hardest to defend
against terrorist attacks, almost as though he was aiding and abetting
terrorists. 

In Louisiana, he was creating a smokescreen by emphasizing the looter
aspect, and not doing anything about disaster relief. A sort of "If they
don't have bread, let them eat bullets" philosophy. I watched WWL-TV on
internet practically every night. I thought it was interesting that
on-location, the stories and fears were completely different than in the
national pablum providers. For instance, the sheriff of Covenington,
Louisiana, which must have a population of around 9000, said the
population felt comforted by the reinforcements to prevent looters, but
that so far Covington had only one looter, and he was in jail. There was
also an interview with a 32 year old white banker who admitted to having
looted a superette in New Orleans with dozens of other people. He said
no one was stealing TV's and VCR's... "you can't eat them. We all needed
food and none was coming...". 

Of course there were real looters, the white collar ones.  They were the
local, state and national authorities who diverted the material and
human resources away from intended destinations and into private pockets
or other projects or off to Iraq. And it was Bush himself who gave the
opinion that expert advice on hurricane protection was generally hugely
overestimated, so the last request for $62 million for levee improvement
and pumping station upgrades in New Orleans was chopped in half and the
transfer of funds delayed, in spite of support and warnings of urgency
by every competent agency concerned.                          

Why wasn't New Orleans declared off limits to everyone? Would that have
really affected those who wanted to stay? The truth is all Louisiana
insurance policies have a clause stating that if you can return to your
home (and that's by any means) to prevent further damage after a natural
catastrophe, that the insurance company is not responsable for any
damage that was caused by your lack of attention and care. If the
authorities say you can't go in, you're covered, if not, you have to
battle it out with experts and settle for a pittance, because rainwater
through unattended leaks isn't covered, water trapped inside an
unattended house means flood compensation is reduced, if you let your
walls mold, tha's your probleme. Insurance companies will save billions
of dollars because of decisions that weren't made.

But the shit is really going to hit the fan on October 17... That's when
the new personal bankruptsy law comes into effect. The Republicans voted
down the Democratic amendement to protect people with sudden huge
medical expenses and people who had unexpected losses in a natural
catastrophe. That means hurricane victims who no longer have jobs and
can no longer pay notes on houses, cars, appliances, cable
subscriptions, etc. can have whatever remains taken away from them.
Another way of taking wealth from the general population and
concentrating it in the hands of a few. It worked in the middle ages,
but even the most agressive prison-building effort possible can not
protect the US from the consequences of creating debt and despairfor an
increasingly large part of the population.   

I could go on and on, but like I said, there were no mistakes made. New
Orleans is an accurate reflection of US national policy. Of course
Bush's keeping an eye on the opinion polls, and will try any stopgap
measure that can further his political philosophy, but he must really be
disgusted that all these so-called "victims" are getting help and money
they really don't deserve...  

Best,

Duane

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