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What's Going On?

Entry 216, on 2005-09-02 at 12:20:07 (Rating 4, News)

What's going on in New Orleans? The city has been completely disabled by the floods, and anarchy seems to have taken over. Isn't the USA supposed to be the most advanced nation on Earth? Where is the help and control that should be coming from the federal government? I know its happening, but it seems to be too little, too late. People are already dying in makeshift accommodation like they would in a third world country.

I haven't spent a lot of time in the States, but I have a theory that they have an over-reliance on the private sector to do everything. When I was in San Francisco, there was still a lot of damage, from an earthquake from a year before, which hadn't been repaired. Now New Orleans, which was a wonderful city by all accounts, has been devastated and the infra-structure to help just doesn't seem to be up to the task.

I'm sure the technology exists to build flood defenses which could withstand a disaster even as bad as this one. Everyone knew this would happen eventually, but the defenses and recovery plans just didn't seem to be sufficient.

Now we are being asked for aid money to send to America to help with the recovery. If it will help, I think we should do this, but many people find the request quite bizarre. Sending aid money to the richest nation on Earth, which is wasting billions in Iraq. Does this really make any sense? Apparently, the irony has been apparent to many. Maybe the US needs to sort out its own problems before it starts "helping" the rest of the world with theirs!

Comment 1 (77) by OJB on 2005-09-02 at 21:45:42:

Wow! Now the national guard have been given authorisation to use "shoot to kill" tactics against rioters and looters in New Orleans. This is not good, and is getting way out of control. I really hope things improve there soon.

Comment 2 (100) by SBFL on 2005-09-05 at 19:52:38:

The emergency support response is a farce. I don't think blaming a reliance on the private sector adds up. To me, it appears to be gross incompetence at blame.

Comment 3 (102) by OJB on 2005-09-05 at 22:27:01:

Yeah, the private enterprise theory was a fairly idle speculation, and I wasn't particularly serious about it.

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