$2000 Debit Cards Given to Evacuees

[competentone]

Originally posted by Steeve
Then we'll get to listen to all the rappers complain on TV that we didn't give each family enough money.

Oh, yea... and wait until the comparisons start with what the 9/11 victims' families received!

[Steeve]

Originally posted by notfarnow
There are plenty of good, genourous and dependable poor people.

Many people bear the brunt of misfortune, just like many of us benefit from good fortune. Born into a good family and got a great education, great! Born in a ghetto and went to public school in a bad part of town? Sucks to be you.

Look, here is the problem: Read my post again. Where in my post, or in any other in this thread, did I say that any of the people in question are NOT good, genourous (sic), or dependable? I only commented on their ability, or inability to manage money. That is quite a leap from my comments to your accusations.

[ZLP]

Reading this thread I keep thinking about the Chappel show episode when the blacks are compensated for slavery. LOL

[dhoward]

Reding and comprenshun is hord...

[David]

CNN clip:

http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/629.html

How about the police:

http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/614.html

[Hugh R]

I got displaced from NO making a movie. We chartered a jet and flew about 90 people back home to Los Angeles, had a great meal (Charter you know), two movies and free liquor on the way, do I get a card? Oh, and I am white.

[legion]

Originally posted by ZLP
Reading this thread I keep thinking about the Chappel show episode when the blacks are compensated for slavery. LOL

"Tron, how did you become so wealthy?"

[Racerbvd]

You have to excuse notfarnow, he does live in a socialist country that doesn't hold its residents responsible for their actions, government takes care them.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by amity914
I would like to know why it is assumed that survivors will buy drugs or resale them??? Race? Why would you assume that this is what will be done? It is really the least our gov't can do since it took 5 days for our gov't to respond. These are not people that are getting welfare or food stamps becase they don't want to or can't work, these are people who lost everything in a natural disaster. I am assuming that one could get into an apartment, buy some groceries and be thankfull to have a roof over their families head or at the very least they will have some basics to start rebuilding their lives.

Hiedi

Hiedi? I'm curious...do your knees jerk and heart bleed simultaneously, or do they do so separately?

[ZLP]

Originally posted by legion
"Tron, how did you become so wealthy?"

"Cadillac and KFC stock has gone through the roof!"

[johnco]

I work with very poor white and black people. the same ones that have no electricity, no water, no cars and every dime they get goes to cigarettes, dope, beer and poker machines. the guy that works with me is one example. his wife was the beneficiary of $650,000 4-5 years ago. today he is as broke as he was before receiving the windfall. no car, no house... nothing... every dime went into poker machines as did thousands of $ of borrowed money. after selling the house they paid cash for and lost from borrowing money to gamble there was $39,000 left. she went thru that in 2 months...... still no car, no job... nothing. give them a few hundred today and they will ask to borrow $10 tomorrow. $2000 may go far for some, but for many, it won't last thru the night

[pwd72s]

Wise words, John...and race card playing does NOT enter in here. Despite our best efforts at educating her otherwise, Cindy & I have a spendthrift daughter. Give her $2,000 and she'd use it as a down payment in order to get some $30,000 toy or bauble that will be worn out or obsolete before it's paid for. What really saddens us? She's a well educated person with an RN degree & license. She's great at her well paying job. But for some reason we cannot fathom, she simply cannot manage money. Every dime she makes is already spent....(edit) I'd like to add that it isn't gambling, booze, or drugs with her...my theory is that she just loves having sales people suck up to her. Somehow it makes her feel good, somehow superior (?) to blow money on high priced doo-dads that she really has no use for.

[dhoward]

Good thing she ain't gettin' a card.....

[WOODPIE]

Pwd,

Paraphrasing Robert Palmer:

"Might as well face it, she's addicted to 'stuff'"

I think it's a really common problem with people, of all ages and racial backgrounds. The importance of getting stuff is drilled into the citizenry from infancy.

[fintstone]

Originally posted by notfarnow
Lots of assumptions here about "them". There are plently of poor people who do an amazing job of budgeting, out of necessity. ...

No, not really. People like that may be briefly poor...once
......but they never stay that way long.

[craigster59]

Having been there, being poor is both a reality and a mentality. But once the mentality part is surpassed...

[bell]

my power went out for 2 hours when the rain from the hurricane passed over ohio.......i should get a card for not being able to watch cnn's coverage of the ordeal........

[jyl]

[Warning, ramble alert]

I, too, have this sinking feeling that that $2,000 will be used up pretty quickly. But I'm thinking less about those who'll squander it, than about how far or not it will go for even those who are careful.

Suppose you're a family of four who is in the Houston Astrodome with no possessions. Let's assume you are very careful with money. As long as you stay in the shelter and the relief effort is providing you with food, second-hand clothes, medical care, etc, there's probably not much need to spend the $2,000. But once you leave the shelter, that $2,000 won't last all that long. Think about how long you could buy groceries, pay rent on a room, pay bus fares, etc for four people on $2,000 - in Houston. A few months, max?

So in the end, the $2,000 won't get your family out of the shelter for long. You'll need a job. If the $2,000 allows you to find a job - pays bus fare to go looking, access to a phone to make and receive calls, buys a set of presentable clothes, then it'll make a big difference. If you don't get a job, then with or without the $2,000 you're going to wind up back at the shelter. (Well, there's always welfare, but that's hardly what we want to happen.)

Basically, it's going to come down to jobs.

I'm sure some of the refugees will find work in the communities where they are being sheltered, especially the ones with skills and work experience. But this is a pretty large number of people we're talking about. For example, there's 60-70K refugees in Arkansas shelters, of which perhaps 15-20K working age males and a similar number of working age females (guessing here). Can Arkansas really absorb 30-40K new workers in a reasonable time?

What can be done?

Just thinking out loud, there will be tons of labor and construction jobs created in rebuilding New Orleans - demolition, cleanup, reconstruction. I'd like to see the recovery effort include employing able-bodied refugees in that rebuilding. Rather than have a mass move of construction workers to the Gulf Coast creating a shortage elsewhere in the country, let's have some of the $50 or $100 billion that is going to be spent on rebuilding the property in the Gulf Coast also be used to get the people of the region back on their feet.

I can see all sorts of rules and regulations that will stand in the way, including union hall rules. We can cut through that red tape. I can also see that able-bodied men with no prior construction experience will need training to do even the more basic jobs. We can do rapid training. I can see that contractors won't want to hire newly trained workers or will worry about their workers' comp rates. We can require some % of local labor, and pass emergency laws controlling rates and liability.

Do you guys agree that the biggest need these refugees are going to have is jobs? What do you think the recovery effort can do to, in effect, help the refugees help themselves? Or do you think the refugees should be on their own in this regard?

[ZLP]

Originally posted by jyl
[Warning, ramble alert]

I, too, have this sinking feeling that that $2,000 will be used up pretty quickly. But I'm thinking less about those who'll squander it, than about how far or not it will go for even those who are careful.

Suppose you're a family of four who is in the Houston Astrodome with no possessions. Let's assume you are very careful with money. As long as you stay in the shelter and the relief effort is providing you with food, second-hand clothes, medical care, etc, there's probably not much need to spend the $2,000. But once you leave the shelter, that $2,000 won't last all that long. Think about how long you could buy groceries, pay rent on a room, pay bus fares, etc for four people on $2,000 - in Houston. A few months, max?

So in the end, the $2,000 won't get your family out of the shelter for long. You'll need a job. If the $2,000 allows you to find a job - pays bus fare to go looking, access to a phone to make and receive calls, buys a set of presentable clothes, then it'll make a big difference. If you don't get a job, then with or without the $2,000 you're going to wind up back at the shelter. (Well, there's always welfare, but that's hardly what we want to happen.)

Basically, it's going to come down to jobs.

I'm sure some of the refugees will find work in the communities where they are being sheltered, especially the ones with skills and work experience. But this is a pretty large number of people we're talking about. For example, there's 60-70K refugees in Arkansas shelters, of which perhaps 15-20K working age males and a similar number of working age females (guessing here). Can Arkansas really absorb 30-40K new workers in a reasonable time?

What can be done?

Just thinking out loud, there will be tons of labor and construction jobs created in rebuilding New Orleans - demolition, cleanup, reconstruction. I'd like to see the recovery effort include employing able-bodied refugees in that rebuilding. Rather than have a mass move of construction workers to the Gulf Coast creating a shortage elsewhere in the country, let's have some of the $50 or $100 billion that is going to be spent on rebuilding the property in the Gulf Coast also be used to get the people of the region back on their feet.

I can see all sorts of rules and regulations that will stand in the way, including union hall rules. We can cut through that red tape. I can also see that able-bodied men with no prior construction experience will need training to do even the more basic jobs. We can do rapid training. I can see that contractors won't want to hire newly trained workers or will worry about their workers' comp rates. We can require some % of local labor, and pass emergency laws controlling rates and liability.

Do you guys agree that the biggest need these refugees are going to have is jobs? What do you think the recovery effort can do to, in effect, help the refugees help themselves? Or do you think the refugees should be on their own in this regard?

Most of them didn't work in the first place so I don't see these scabs of society running to get work.... With 30% of the city under the poverty limit how do you think they got there?

[jyl]

Originally posted by ZLP
Most of them didn't work in the first place so I don't see these scabs of society running to get work.... With 30% of the city under the poverty limit how do you think they got there?

Do you know for sure that the majority of the refugees were unemployed, as opposed to the working poor? Do you have a data source to share? I would like to see it.

(OK, to precise, it is probably true that many of the refugees didn't work, because many of them are children, elderly, and so on. I'm referring to the able-bodied adults of working age.)