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Hurricane Katrina - 'Brownie, you're doing a helluva job'!

By Nicholas Gruen - posted Tuesday, 13 September 2005


The people around New Orleans rely on another public good - levee banks on the Mississippi. Remember no-one will fund them properly for profit because they can’t capture all the benefits themselves.

Like those Old Testament prophets warning of God’s vengeance, frequent reports foretold just the kind of possibilities that have come to pass. But levee maintenance and development has been hampered by the prominence given to other priorities. Like settling scores with Saddam Hussein and hefty tax cuts to the wealthy.

And there’s another public good. Competence and integrity in government.

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In his first debate with Al Gore in the 2000 election George Bush offered this compliment to the Clinton Administration:

You know, as governor, one of the things you have to deal with is catastrophe. I can remember the fires that swept Parker County, Texas. I remember the floods that swept our state. I remember going down to Del Rio, Texas. I have to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a really good job of working with governors during times of crisis.

Democrat Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has just hired Witt to help the relief effort just last Sunday. How come he’s available? Well Bush replaced him as FEMA head with his political campaign manager Joe Allbaugh and folded FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security.

When Allbaugh moved on in 2003 he was replaced by Michael D. Brown who’d become FEMA Deputy in 2001. His qualifications? Running an Arabian horse association from which he was fired. Oh - and he was a Republican and Allbaugh’s college roommate. In 2004 Mike Brown praised Gulf Coast states for being “a model of preparedness and risk reduction” against hurricanes.

Well ... whatever?

Tens of thousands of New Orleans’ poor huddled masses followed official instructions and huddled into the Morial Convention Centre. They got shelter from natures’ storm but remained without food, water or security as the violence and looting escalated.

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Nearly four days after Katrina hit Brown told reporters that he’d just learned of their plight.

Touring the devastated areas George Bush said "Brownie, you're doing a helluva job".

Whatever?

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First published in The Courier-Mail on September 7, 2005.



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About the Author

Dr Nicholas Gruen is CEO of Lateral Economics and Chairman of Peach Refund Mortgage Broker. He is working on a book entitled Reimagining Economic Reform.

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