The Wall Street Journal Has the Right Idea, Just the Wrong Numbers

According to the September 18, Time Speed Read section “Storm Aftermath”, the federal government has scrapped plans to give $2,000 debit cash to thousands of hurricane victims. The federal government is capping total aid per household at $26,000. Family hurricane aid works out to be about $3 billion or 5 percent of the $62 billion already allocated for federal recovery and less than 1.5 per cent of the $200 billion Congress estimates the total bill for New Orleans and the gulf region will cost the federal government.

The 9/11 victim compensation fund paid on average over $1 million to each victim, the New Orleans victims will received $6,500 each based on a family of four members, less for larger families, some of which are three generations.

The same federal and state agencies that watched as Black people were forced to beg for their children’s lives and did nothing for days refusing to go into the ghettos of New Orleans during their moment of greatest need, are earning more overtime and travel per diem in a week, than the victims of Katrina will get for their total pain and suffering. This is in addition to the billions of dollars these same agencies to deliverer systems.

The leaders of Cameroon and Chad will be paid more this year by the World Bank and Exxon/Mobile than the victims of New Orleans who were forced to drink chemically toxic flood water just to stay alive.

This is beyond white racism, this is institutionalized evil. America should be ashamed.

After 500 years of human blood, sweat and tears investments in the city of New Orleans, its culture and spirit, the descendants of the slaves who built the city, are being given walking money and a ride to the next state and told “you don’t live here anymore”. This is morally evil.

According to Stephen Moore in the September 19, 2005 Wall Street Journal “Welcome to the GOP’s New New Deal” … “We could give every one the 500,000 families displaced by Katrina a check for $400,000, and they could each build a beach front virtually anywhere in America.” While the money is still only 10 pre cent of the 9/11 pay out of $4 million, it’s a lot better than the current Congressional $26, 000.

Conceptually Mr. Moore's idea would be great. First it would empower the Black population with 200 billion dollars of real economic power. This African empowerment would limit the role major predatory corporations like Shaw Group, Bethel, Fluor, CH2MHill, Halliburton, Intelsat and Segovia looking for new feeding ground for deconstructing what is left of the fragile New Orleans. Also, Wall Street and Asian banks would more likely invest in regional develop if the Washington factor is under control.

Local construction and service businesses with vested interests in the city, would most benefit from rebuilding New Orleans would not replace by Washington connected predatory firms. This would save billions of critical investment dollars.

Under the Bush recovery plan, 70 per cent of the city of New Orleans population effectively little or no input or control of the reconstruction of their city. The WSJ idea would change the balance of power.

The Wall Street Journal has the right idea of letting Black people make their own choices; they just got the wrong numbers.

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