So far, there is no plan to include the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the reconstruction of their homeland, just as there was no plan to rescue them. There is no plan to bring the survivors, scattered to 40 states, back to their homes, no plan to give them priority on jobs and put them to work rebuilding their city.
Cronyism, corruption, incompetence and blind ideology threaten to add to the suffering of those who were abandoned in the first place.
Last week, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced that he would be forced to lay off 3,000 employees, about half the city’s workforce, “as a result of financial constraints in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.”
This dismantling of city government is not only dangerous, but also bizarre, given the billions that have been provided by public and private sources after the hurricane hit.
Nagin estimated the measure will save “$5 million to $8 million a month.” The analysts of the Institute for Southern Studies show that, spread over a year, that’s still $22 million less than FEMA paid truckers to haul ice around that was never delivered. It’s $158 million less than FEMA paid Carnival Cruise Lines to house Katrina evacuees, with the company gouging taxpayers by charging twice their normal cruise rate.
Halliburton’s $500 million no-bid contract for Katrina cleanup alone could keep those workers on staff for another 77 years.
New Orleans needs someone at the federal level who is in charge. It needs plans for public investment in rebuilding the infrastructure of the city. A Civilian Reconstruction Corps is vital to organize former residents, provide them with training if necessary, and put them to work. They need affordable, temporary housing so they can come back to their city. The city should be expanding its workforce, not laying off half of it.
Why is this not happening? The incompetence is staggering.
There is no czar in charge of the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast. No one to coordinate and drive things forward.
Instead of a plan, the administration is shipping money to private contractors. Bush says, “The engine that drives growth and job creation in America is the private sector, and the private sector will be the engine that drives the recovery of the Gulf Coast.”
This is a statement of ideology over experience. Bush’s own economic policies have produced a net loss in private-sector jobs, outside of the military sector. What job growth we’ve had under Bush comes from more public employment (particularly with the expansion of the military and homeland security) and military-sector jobs from the billions going to private contractors for war in Iraq and Afghanistan.