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

[nephthys510.livejournal.com]

I was wondering why it was only offered in Texas...

Good catch.

And as much as a cynical misanthrope as I am, I just can't believe these stories of the money being so egregiously misspent.

[sjo.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are a couple of people who spent unwisely. You have to figure that under the circumstances, people are already in shock and may never have HAD that much money all at one time before. They might very well make unwise choices.

I don't see that as any excuse to punish everyone else, however. Cutting off funds reflects a callous disregard for the needs and circumstances of the evacuees.

[nephthys510.livejournal.com]

I can see that. Hell, if I was handed 2k I might be tempted to go nuts.

Then I would remember my bills.

but the nuts would be pretty strong.

[rsheslin.livejournal.com]

And the reason that FEMA didn't arrange for food "stamp" cards (or some other kind of voucher to be used for specifically for food/shelter) was -- ?

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Why do you hate America?

Memphis?

[zorker.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who finds it odd that one of these people was spotted spending tons of money in Memphis? I mean, weren't the only cards given out in Texas, according to the other article? What, did a refugee who was mostly devoid of personal belongings, living in a shelter, and with three kids suddenly teleport to Memphis? That just seems kind of odd to me, unless I'm missing some facts here.

[neverjaunty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm kind of wondering how somebody immediately knew that the person buying shoes and purses was a Katrina survivor. Ditto the strip bars--not too many lap dancers carry debit-swipe machines in their G-strings.

[neverjaunty.livejournal.com]

Because you'd have to set up an entire new system of vouchers and way to confirm those vouchers, inform every business that had food and shelter about the existence of the vouchers, and provide a reimbursement mechanism. Whereas debit cards already exist and you don't need to reinvent the wheel in order to issue them.

[rsheslin.livejournal.com]

You do have a point. Still, I would think it should have been possible to hand our food "stamps," which already has system in place.

Someone had to coordinate the distribution of debit cards -- at least, I'm assuming they didn't just stand on a street corner and hand them out to all and sundry. Would it really have been that much more difficult to create a marked sub-set of food card recipients as one-time only? Yes, people might have needed to have been registered, which would have required more man-hours to process, or possibly a blanket amount of funding could have been earmarked for this purpose.

I think my primary problem is that this seems like yet one more example of how poorly this whole situation was handled, from the closing of the bus station to not airlifting patients out of hospitals to the complete travesty of the non-existent chain of command handling rescue operations to the community that praised their police force for not allowing refugees in to the Red Cross not being allowed into the city to mercenaries being hired by the Federal government to harrass citizens, treating victims as criminals -- I've reached the point of outrage overload.

Therefore, even though, as I said, you do have a point regarding system requirements for specialized cards, I just don't care any more. I'm just disgusted.

[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.