The damage Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast region was nothing like anyone had ever seen. And a year later, few say their lives are back to normal.
A recent poll conducted by Gallup and USA TODAY indicates that Katrina may well have done the most damage to the idea that government is here to help.
The poll found that only 16 percent said their lives were back to normal and that the most needed help now is money and contractors to help rebuild.
Not only did Katrina cause severe financial hardship for most of its victims, it exacted a severe psychological toll on many of those hit by the storm, with 54 percent reporting feelings of anxiety, 48 percent reporting depression, and 45 percent reporting trouble sleeping. Even so, 56 percent believe life will return to normal, or something close to it, with 16 percent more saying that everything already was back on track.
“Things are getting back. It’s slow,” said New Orleans firefighter Robert Tourres, 48.
Most striking from a libertarian perspective, though, were the increased distrust in government, especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency, viewed as having completely bungled the job of disaster response, and the large outpouring of personal help from ordinary people, charities and for-profit companies.
Seven in 10 say someone went out of their way to help them over the past year. One in four say someone tried to take advantage of their situation. The leading culprits: Contractors, FEMA and gas stations.
Opinions of government performance, always low, have deteriorated. Two-thirds say the responses by the federal and state governments have been fair or poor. Nearly as many have the same dim view of the job done by local governments. — USA TODAY
The low opinions encompassed all levels of government: federal, state and local.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents polled by Gallup/USA Today gave the federal government a thumbs down, while 66 percent were disappointed in the state government and 59 percent had a negative assessment of their city government’s performance. . . .
Despite — or perhaps because of — the horrors of the storm and outrage over the government’s seeming inaction afterward, the kindness of strangers has benefited many survivors. Seventy percent said that they had been helped by a person, business or organization, and only 25 percent said they had felt victimized by some entity. Of those being helped, four out of five received aid from a charitable organization, while about two-thirds got help from the federal government. — National Journal
In case you missed the math, that means more people received help from private charity — and their neighbors — than from the government. And most surprisingly, the government seems to have screwed victims over much more than people trying “to take advantage of their situation.” Do you really trust FEMA to get it right this time?
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Gardner Goldsmith reveals many of the myths and lies behind Barack Obama's push for medical fascism. Then, he reveals the shocking attitude of Tom Brokaw, who believes government health plans are good, and that those very same medical plans should restrict expenditures on "the elderly."
The census -- like so many government programs -- has grown far beyond what the framers of our Constitution intended. The invasive nature of the current census raises serious questions about how and why government will use the collected information. It also demonstrates how the federal bureaucracy consistently encourages citizens to think of themselves in terms of groups, rather than as individual Americans.
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Melissa
Aug 22, 2006
I believe that those African Americans were not treated the way that they should have been treated. There were not treated with respect. That historically black state will never be the same. Those people who walked away from that natural disaster. Millions of dollars were raised by Clinton and Red Cross. Where is all the money going to.
It brings such disgust to me, seeing George Bush smiling. Condalisa is black, but the only thing that makes her black is her skin. That lady is a sell, buying shoes when people in New Orleans didnt have any shoes on their feet or clothes on their back. Bush has a lot of nerve re-building Iraq, he does not have an obligation to there country. He has an obligation to this country, the United States. He took an oath to serve and protect this country. Millions of dollars being spent over their, instead of help his own country. If those were white people there, or it was his brothers state, it would have been a different outcome. This is the president that our nation is stuck with, because we didnt get out their in vote. In two years I believe that more African Americans will go vote. Very few white people can say that they understand what happen over their in New Orleans, because it would be like they were saying they understand what Black’s went through during slavery or segregation. There is still segregation. I hope Bush enjoys his sit in office because after he is going no one will remember him in a positive way. He has done more harm to our country then any other president.
brad
Aug 24, 2006
YUP !
I was here for the whole thing, i still am.
i have never seen anyone from FEMA , still !
i got $3,000 for rental assistance.
(i did leave 3 days after the storm, and was gone for a few weeks)
But, my buisiness is gone. i lost over $100,000.
My life savings.
I had bought 2 rental properties JUST before the hurricane with my savings, and against the house i live in.
i didnt have time to get insurance on them, and they dont write policies when ther eis a storm in the gulf.
Bush had a tax plan for small buisiness.
but you have to make MORE than $250,000 a year.
thats SMALL buisiness ?
well, i sure dont qualify.
I drive through New Orleans daily, and hardly see a soul.
The Army Corp of engineers was responsible for building and upkeeping those levee’s,
and BUSH cut back on the $ we needed for the levee system, to use it for the war, ya know, those WMD that were not found?
makes me sick.
we killed 100,000 people in Iraq.
and everyone who died New Orleans, was killed by Bush’s policies.
The ones left like me,
Well, the article says it all.
depressed, cant sleep, always worried about the future.
God might have created the hurricane,
but Bush created the policy that failed us.
Brad
www.911review.org
Hurricane Katrina photos
Hurricane Katrina articles and my experience
brad
Aug 24, 2006
by the way,
great website !
Lenny Zimmermann
Aug 25, 2006
I can only hope that this kind of distrust turns into putting so many of these lunatic politicians out of office. Louisianans will FINALLY see a party affiliation on their ballots other then Republican and Democratic starting with this next election. They’ll finally be able to vote for folks who distrust government just as much as they do and are willing to do something about it. Vote Libertarian, Louisiana!
(http://www.la.lp.org/, http://www.neworleanslibertarians.org/)
Aug 28, 2006
Socratic Rhythm Method
caroline wilder
Jan 29, 2007
I just want to say that I moved to New Orleans recently and I’ve never seen so much destruction in my life. It has always been my favorite city, and now I hardly recognize it. I cannot believe that the government has done nothing to help everyone there. It’s really sad, and it makes me ashamed of our government. I wish they would walk down the streets I walk down everyday and see what I see, and feel what I feel. It’s horrible.
Jul 26, 2007
FEMA ignored travel trailer formaldehyde threat - Homeland Stupidity
KK
Aug 23, 2007
I just want to say: What’s new? It seems that people who are upset seem to be the loudest about their complaints and the turn to hating a person just because of their political position. There is always going to something you’re not going to be happy with. It’s not like someone can go and make natural disasters disappear.