[Dueller]

Let me give you one real world example. I had a client living in a modest retirement apartment in Nola. She was a retired teacher, 72 years old. No family. Living on a modest fixed income of Soc Security and a small pension from the Catholic school where she taught. She left her '88 Olds at her apt and boarded a school bus to evacuate with little more than the clothes on her back. Instead they took her to the Superdome as the evacuation routes were cloggged. Needless to say, it was terrifying to her. She watched people die. She attempted to walk out after the third day. She had no food and little water during this time. She was turned back. Ultimately she was evacuated to Houston. After a few days there she was transported to Arizona. In Az a church set her and 3 others in a small apartment.

After a month or two there, she was taken to another church sponsored relocation in Utah. The postal facilities in Nola were destroyed so her retirement checks were not forwarded to her. She was finally able to get benefits reinstated 4 months later. She could not access her modest savings because her bank was based in NOLA and flooded. During this time she received one emergency SSA payment of $600. Private charities gave her another $1000 dollars or so, plus food and shelter. She had no i.d. no medicare card, etc. She had no medicine for her heart condition for nearly a month. She almost died and but for an ER physician who finally got her meds to her.

Finally, after 6 months she was allowed to go to her old apt in Nola to recover her belongings. Her apt was on the 7th floor, and although it wasn't flooded on that floor, everything in her apartment was covered in black mold. Her old car had been hauled off because it was in an underground garage. Her insurance would not cover her loss because she didn't know where the car was. Her renters insurance denied her claims for her personal belongings because it didn't cover damage incident to flooding. FEMA did give her $800 for the car and another $1000 for her belongings.

She exhausted her savings. Finally she was able to find a private retirement home in Tennessee that had space after over a year of bouncing around among friends. As part of her "rent" she reads to other residents and cleans rooms.

She sure did benefit from sucking on the federal teat, don't ya think?

Meanwhile there are thousands of unused FEMA trailers sitting on the tarmac at the Hope, Arkansas airport costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in storage fees.