The death of personal responsibility
The money that FEMA distributed to the survivors of hurricane Katrina, which was intended to help with the necessities, was badly abused. The money was spent on plasma screen TVs, divorce attorneys, even a sex change.
While some oversimplify and put the blame solely on the Bush administration, I think it’s a sad commentary on the state of our society. Indeed, distributing straight cash to mostly poor, uneducated citizens (instead of meal tickets or housing vouchers for istance) was a naive policy. The nature of the situation didn’t allow time for deciding upon the proper methods, and clearly the people running FEMA had not thought of this situation beforehand.
But haven’t we overlooked something? Why are we not upset with the people who took the money and spent it on such frivolous items? They, in essence, spit on the generosity bestowed upon them. It points to a degradation of morality in our society; why were so many people not restrained by a sense of thankfulness and gratitude?
I believe in some ways, this example is a microcosm of the problems associated with any type of forced charity. The recipients of the cash had no personal connection to their benefactors, they were merely issued a piece of plastic because they nearly drowned a few days ago. Not that this justifies their actions — it was still wrong to spend the money on personal luxuries — but perhaps if the charity had been distributed another way it might’ve turned out differently.
Update: A comment left on this post by MarkFolse points out that only $8000 of the $39 million in cash aid was spent fraudulently. The articles I had previously read made it seem as if the problem was more widespread. So, I think overall I’m astonished at the number of people who did spend their money on the necessities. To the few bad apples, I say for shame.
I also think that the businesses that accepted aid monies for luxury items are just as guilty. They knew what those cards were intended for, and it wasn’t electronics. Nevertheless, it appears that FEMA will not be handing out cash when the next disaster hits; it will be more like welfare, with restrictions on what can be purchased.
FEMA, Katrina, Bush, New Orleans, Louisiana, politics
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The abuse was a small portion of the total aid, and the fraud was perpetrated by people all across America who saw an opportunity. To suggest this was specifically about Katrina and the flood and not about the venality of man in general is disingenious at best. And how does it compare to the company doing debris removal on the coast at far above the going rate while paying open kickbacks to Haley Barbour’s consulting company, or Blanco’s close ties to Shaw? There are bigger fish to fry than somebody who bought themselves a TV.
The key to charity seems to be that no matter how localized, the method of having people come to you for resources is always more economical and conservational than having the resources come to them at an unlimited rate. The problem is, you have to set up centers in close proximity to people in the middle of a swamp (formerly New Orleans). That’s not just difficult, it also requires additional resources to set up those centers. That line of reasoning probably caused them to put this method into practice.
I would tend to agree with that, perhaps it’s a psychological phenomenon; people who receive aid em masse have a different attitude regarding what that money can and can’t be used for compared to those who recieve aid on a highly personal level, say from a church or from a neighbor. I think people are less likely to feel gratitude towards the federal government than they are a neighbor that they personally know, or a church organization. I think Katrina gave little time for considering such matters, although they should’ve been considered long beforehand.
You can never expect charity to be 100% for good. There will be those that abuse it. Because of those select few, if one says we shouldn’t give, I say for shame. Speaking of charity did you see what Bill Gates is doing? He’s quitting his day job. Kudos to him!
Um, I’m not saying we shouldn’t give. I’m saying we shouldn’t give aid that can be so easily abused.
As for Bill Gates, imagine that, the king of the capitalist empire is the world’s biggest philanthropist too. It’s a tough pill for liberals to swallow, even if Gates himself is liberal.
The best way to ensure the health and wealth of society is not to force charity.
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