Essential Facts About The Victims of Hurricane Katrina in the land of the free and the home of the brave

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report on September 19, 2005 which shows that the hardest hit states by Hurricane Katrina were already the poorest in the nation, Mississippi and Louisiana.

"Many Hurricane Katrina victims faced difficult living conditions even before the storm arrived. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are, respectively, the first, second, and eighth poorest states in the nation. And of the 5.8 million individuals in these states who lived in the areas struck hardest by the hurricane, more than one million lived in poverty prior to the hurricane’s onset."

The warnings given to the residents of New Orleans to evacuate in the face of landfall by Katrina was like Marie Antoinette's comment when told that the peasants were hungry, "Let them eat cake." because most of New Orleans poor residents have no personal transportation and so could not leave. They were like rats on a sinking ship to governmental officials who spout pious pronouncements and pontificate on cable news shows but seem to have no real grasp of the sociological realities of the communities which they profess to lead and govern.

"Those who were poor in New Orleans commonly lacked their own means of transportation. Our calculations, based on the Census data, show that more half of the poor households in New Orleans — 54 percent — did not have a car, truck, or van in 2000. Among the elderly, the proportion was higher. Sixty-five percent of poor elderly households in New Orleans did not have a vehicle, making it more difficult for them to escape the storm and its effects."

The monumental failure of government at all levels indicates the sickness in our corporatocracy to facilitate the well being of all the people. It is especially ironic when our President and commander in chief who perpetrates a pre-emptive immoral war to bring "freedom and democracy" to people who never asked for it can't seem to take an interest in his own people here at home.

Link: Essential Facts About The Victims of Hurricane Katrina, 9/19/05.