Evan!
Well-Known Member
I was on my way into work and there was a piece on Morning Edition about the Army CoE buying out landowners & homeowners on the Gulf Coast, essentially paying them our tax dollars to move elsewhere. While not the best solution, it pales in comparison to the current situation. In effect, you and I are subsidizing redevelopment on the Louisiana and Mississippi coastal areas in the wake of Katrina. At the same time, we are also subsidizing their flood insurance, because without gov't assistance, they'd be unable to afford it and *gasp* have to move somewhere safer.
This is the same feeling that I got when I watched Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke". Outrage, outrage that we are not only complacent about redevelopment, but we're actually encouraging it...and when the next Katrina or Camille comes along, we'll still be subsidizing their insurance. I listen to the interviews, and these folks are lamenting the fact that these small coastal towns don't have enough residents anymore, and thus not enough tax and utility revenue to sustain themselves...and they talk about how difficult it is to convince people to come back. Yeah, cry me a river. People don't want to be in the path of another Katrina, so now you don't have the tax revenue you need. Boo f*cking hoo.
And now, with the CoE buyouts, people who DO want to stay are concerned that if they refuse a buyout offer from the government, then their government-subsidized flood insurance might go up and they wouldn't be able to afford to live there any more. Do these people even hear themselves talk? I mean, look, I know that Katrina was a relative rarity, but there is no telling when the next one will come along. A few degrees of rise in the gulf water temp is really what led to Katrina being so bad when it finally hit land, and by most accounts, that temp isn't going down any time soon.
So, honestly, by all means, build and develop wherever you want to develop. It's a free country. But the American taxpayer should not have to subsidize your bad decisions through paying for redev and helping make your flood insurance affordable and then having to send FEMA to bail you out when the sh*t hits the fan again and you sit on your roof crying, wondering how in the world could this have happened.
This needs to stop. If we keep encouraging redev and keep bailing everyone out, then nobody learns anything. The market is distorted (otherwise nobody could live there because the private insurance firms wouldn't touch them), and nothing really gets corrected. See this article from before Katrina about this same issue. I don't think most people realize how much we subsidize bad decisions and risks in this country. I feel terrible for all the people on the Gulf Coast who lost their homes and their families in Katrina and Camille, but when you say, in the same breath, that you're moving back to rebuild, well, I bid you good day. Sign a FEMA waiver, get off the government teet, and go live wherever you want.
/rant
This is the same feeling that I got when I watched Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke". Outrage, outrage that we are not only complacent about redevelopment, but we're actually encouraging it...and when the next Katrina or Camille comes along, we'll still be subsidizing their insurance. I listen to the interviews, and these folks are lamenting the fact that these small coastal towns don't have enough residents anymore, and thus not enough tax and utility revenue to sustain themselves...and they talk about how difficult it is to convince people to come back. Yeah, cry me a river. People don't want to be in the path of another Katrina, so now you don't have the tax revenue you need. Boo f*cking hoo.
And now, with the CoE buyouts, people who DO want to stay are concerned that if they refuse a buyout offer from the government, then their government-subsidized flood insurance might go up and they wouldn't be able to afford to live there any more. Do these people even hear themselves talk? I mean, look, I know that Katrina was a relative rarity, but there is no telling when the next one will come along. A few degrees of rise in the gulf water temp is really what led to Katrina being so bad when it finally hit land, and by most accounts, that temp isn't going down any time soon.
So, honestly, by all means, build and develop wherever you want to develop. It's a free country. But the American taxpayer should not have to subsidize your bad decisions through paying for redev and helping make your flood insurance affordable and then having to send FEMA to bail you out when the sh*t hits the fan again and you sit on your roof crying, wondering how in the world could this have happened.
This needs to stop. If we keep encouraging redev and keep bailing everyone out, then nobody learns anything. The market is distorted (otherwise nobody could live there because the private insurance firms wouldn't touch them), and nothing really gets corrected. See this article from before Katrina about this same issue. I don't think most people realize how much we subsidize bad decisions and risks in this country. I feel terrible for all the people on the Gulf Coast who lost their homes and their families in Katrina and Camille, but when you say, in the same breath, that you're moving back to rebuild, well, I bid you good day. Sign a FEMA waiver, get off the government teet, and go live wherever you want.
/rant
