Two interesting angles in one interesting article

[essentialsaltes]

Angle #1: Are they poor because they are bad with money, or bad with money because they are poor?

Katrina refugees use their $2,000 debit cards on strip clubs and $800 Louis Vuitton handbags.

Another viewer reported spotting a survivor buying "over $700 in high heel shoes and purses" at a Memphis department store "while (her) younger children, most of them looked under the age of 3, looked like they haven't showered in weeks."

Angle #2: FEMA gave out 10,500 cards, with a total value of $20.6 million.

Two days later, FEMA scrapped the program after distributing the cards at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. FEMA said then that no cards will be issued to victims in other states.

I.e., this has been a $20.6 million donation to Texas businesses. If you relocated to Houston, you got several lap dances. If you relocated to Baton Rouge, you just got fucked.

Comments

[neverjaunty.livejournal.com]

Would it really have been that much more difficult to create a marked sub-set of food card recipients as one-time only?

Yes. Not to mention that people might need clothing, medicine, eyeglasses, deodorant, and basic necessities. As you say, there's plenty to be outraged over--unsubstantiated rumors of people paying for lap dances with debit cards just don't ring the meter at this point.

[rsheslin.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, you're definitely right -- I'm more pissed that these unsubstantiated rumors resulted in the cessation of aid than I am at the potential for abuse.

On the other hand, I've been thinking about it some more, and I've decided that the "vouchers for necessities" system is something that probably could have been designed as part of the nation's preparation for disasters. Homeland Security is supposed to be in charge of dealing with "natural disasters." If this is the best we could come up with four years after 9/11, we are well and truly screwed.