Bush To Lead Inquiry into Katrina
The sad truth of course is that Bush couldn’t lead an investigation if someone put it on a leash for him. Someone else will lead this “investigation,” then tell him what to say about it. As always.
Following a meeting with his cabinet on Tuesday morning, Mr Bush said: “I intend to lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong.
“It’s very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government and the local government when it comes to a major catastrophe.” Mr Bush’s statement came as leading members of Congress also said they would begin hearings on what they called the “woeful” effort to aid those trapped by the storm and the flooding in New Orleans.
People are already starting to talk about the economic boon that will come with the massive reconstruction efforts– lots of jobs, lots of sales of building materials (be sure to buy plenty of Home Depot stock), etc. What are a few thousand dead Southerners compared to that? The stock market is going up again. Wall Street is feeling more upbeat. Life is good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_window_fallacy
Need we say more?
How much to you want to bet that the conclusion of this investigation will be that the Bush Administration MADE ABSOLUTELY NOT MISTAKES?
They never do.
The conservatives will blame a few low-level “bad apples” and, of course, liberals.
Oh yea, and of course, it will somehow all be Clinton’s fault.
How much to you want to bet that the conclusion of this investigation will be that the Bush Administration MADE ABSOLUTELY NOT MISTAKES?
They never do.
The conservatives will blame a few low-level “bad apples” and, of course, liberals.
Oh yeah, it will somehow all be Clinton’s fault!
Hey Greg I am shocked that government officials wouldn’t place any blame on themselves. Why that never happened in history has it.
Also you guys on the left have to realize that Bush isn’t a conservative. If you disagree with that name something conservative he has done besides tax cuts. Bush really is a Democrat of 25 to 30 years ago which just goes to show how far the Democrat party has fallen. He ran as a conservative because he knew that was the best way to get elected but he is in line with the beliefs his father holds than any conservative. You can also look into Karl Rove who has been quoted as saying that he and Bush’s goals are “Liberal ends by Conservative means.” That sounds like a true believer to me.
There may be unforeseen benefits to some of the people who have been evacuated and don’t plan to return to New Orleans, in that they move to other towns that are less affecte by hurricanes, and get new and (perhaps) better jobs than they had in NO.
Cabot,
Thanks for the link. I wouldn’t have made the connection to “broken window fallacy”, otherwise..
Sadly, I think there will be a “boom” as John mentions – or maybe more of a bubble.
But the fallicy is when people think that this “rising tide’ will raise all boats. People equating profit for the few into a better economy for the many. 🙁
The example in the Wikipedia of rebuilding the WTC is an apt one, IMO, since after the “boom” of rebuilding the region we will have a bigger federal deficitt, higher insurance costs (so those for-profit companies can recover their loses), and higher fuel prices.
It is truly a zero-sum game. No one profits without others losing their shirt.
How much to you want to bet that the conclusion of this investigation will be that the Bush Administration MADE ABSOLUTELY NO MISTAKES?
And that the 2nd finding will be that we need (more) tax cuts to stimulate the recovery.
Mike, you’ve nailed it. This group of self-congratulatory politicos are incredible for this sort of thing. And they have all this backing from the radio hosts. I was listening to Limbaugh this morning go berserk about all this somehow blaming the hurricane and its aftermath on the “liberals” who somehow want to run things and they are somehow causing this mess. It’s amazing. He almost lost it. Either that or his handlers have been telling him to get more emotional “like Savage!” The other local right-winger talk show folks are all blaming the New Orleans Mayor for everything.
Dubya’s decision to “lead” is scary. He, and his manikins, aptly demonstrated that they are incapable of leadership. They might be good at pork-barrel politics, but not at running a country.
The comments about a “zero-sum” equation are so true. Nothing will ever replace the lives or life lost in this disaster. While Georgia-Pacific will make more money, as the price of lumber rises, poor people that couldn’t afford insurance won’t be able to re-build.
I predict the poorer sections of the hardest hit coastal towns all being condemned and replaced with resorts and retirement communities for those with money. And, after a few years, someone will stand up and claim how Katrina “revitalized” the whole southern coastline.
Oh please, more liberal drivel…
Yes, BUSH IS ALL-POWERFUL. Yes, Bush caused the hurricane. Yes, Bush forced those people to stay in their homes, shoot at rescue helicopters, loot the electronics stores, etc. Yes, Bush caused the levee breeches. Yes, Bush hates black people. Yes, Bush caused N.O.’s mayor to completely drop the ball on a city evacuation. Yes, Bush caused N.O. to have whoefully inadequate emergency shelter facilities. Yes, Bush caused the top of the Superdome to fly off. Yes, you guessed it – BUSH RULES THE UNIVERSE.
You guys would gain some real credibility if you’d take at least a day’s break and stop blaming Bush for EVERYTHING. For someone who many of you claim to be a blundering do-nothing idiot, he sure seems to have a strong hand in all disasters, be it natural or man-made. Sheesh…
Some heads should roll for sure, including some at FEMA. But I simply don’t understand why N.O.’s mayor is slipping out of any blame for such incompetent preparedness for a disaster that agencies have been predicting for years, as is Louisiana’s Governor for initially stalling on surrendering any jurisdiction to the Feds…?!?!?!?!
It is good to see that an investigation into the rescue operations is being conducted; unfortunately it is not being done by an independent party. My prediction is the Bush will find that his administration was only slightly responsible for the unacceptable delays in the rescue operations, but that the real blame will lie in the local officials and others not in the Bush administration.
Will this be an accurate view of what went wrong? We will never really know, because like most politicians Bush will not lay the blame on himself or his administration. The people that were affected by this disaster deserve to know the truth… we all deserve to know why the emergency response was slow and most importantly they response system has to be fixed so help can arrive to those who need it during the next disaster.
The last time people complained about someone investigating themself was when Ken Starr said he would investigate leaks in his investigation. Well, in that case a few weeks later, the press spokesman was fired for leaking.
Pat, your theory of condemning poor people’s land couldn’t happen if the Supreme Court had more people like Clarence Thomas on it.
I hate to poke another hole in the left wing thought process, but more money was generated last year because of the tax cuts than would have been without.
With more money in our pockets we buy more stuff. That increases revenue from sales taxes as well as the bottom lines of the companies we buy from. In turn, they pay more corperate taxes and invest more in growth. More growth means more jobs. More jobs means more money is to be made, which means we can buy even more stuff.
You do understand how this works. Right?
Mike, you are right on with this one. And referring back to another post you made earlier, they’ll probably end up pinning medals of honor on Chertoff and who know who else.
In the meantime, the gorging at the trough is commencing in earnest, and guess who’s invited? The first guy Bush appointed to “run” FEMA, Joe Allbaugh, who left when he discovered the gold mine in the “reconstruction” of Iraq. Of the $60+ billion already allocated for the restoration of the Gulf Coast, I wonder how much of it will go into no-bid contracts and “consulting fees.”
Pardon my cynicism, but these guys have taken cronyism to new levels of efficiency. Oh, for the simple days when our politicians only made stupid investments in land deals in the Ozarks and fired their travel office staff…
It’s getting harder and harder to defend W. Delay with relief for Hurricane Andrew destroyed his father’s re-election. You would think that the elephant would remember.
Still blame should not focus on one individual – but a cast of thousands of entrenched civil servants who feel that no action can ever effect their job security. therefore they take no action.
Ever been to the Motor Vehicle bureau looking for understanding and compassion – or just a sense of urgency. It’s the same in every state.
If this had been private industry screwing up with so many lives lost though incompentance and inaction – the concept would not be loss of votes, but LOSS OF FREEDOM for those found responsible for negligent homicide.
This will be an interesting witchunt.
Ok, here is a great example of leadership. According to the BBC, President Bush called that wonderful heroic Mayor on Sunday, the day before Katrina hit, and PLEADED with him to declare a mandatory evacuation. It seems that Mayor Heroic didn’t have the balls to evacuate his city without being pressured from above — even after being told on Saturday night that the storm was a Cat 4 and New Orleans had to be evacuated immediately.
Of course Mayor Heroic is a Democrat, so yeah, its Bush’s fault all right.
I wouldn’t vote Mayor Heroic for Dog Catcher, but that’s just me.
YES! Bush, with his massive amount of hot and meaningless air is what caused the Category 5 hurricane.
I like the concept. Thanks Zuke.
Weren’t MS & LA “Red” states? It looks like they’re getting the “service” that they voted for where the idea is to sit back and pray for a devine solution rather than making efforts to prevent or mend the problems.
earnie, that’s rich. When Bush f’s up he is suddenly labeled a liberal Democrat. I bet the Republican spin doctor’s would like to interview you for a job. That’s much more out of the box thinking then the standard “it’s not Bush’s fault because he didn’t cause the hurricane”. Although, the ironic thing is that with all his “pollution” policies, he actually has contributed immensely to these devastating hurricanes. 😛
As for this idea of “boon”, I agree with some others in that this does nothing more than further create a significant divide between the classes as it makes few wealthy while it creates an expensive inflationary cost over the long term to average people. BTW, this country was already running at full steam on creating housing to supply the real estate bubble so, I don’t see where this additional need creates a better effect on the economy. It just means higher building costs for an industry that already is facing supply shortages and it means the hiring of some less skilled workers to fill the current shortage which likely means even lower quality construction of homes.
I swear that the Bush administration hired Wall Street analysts for their PR team because these guys can/do spin any news (good/bad) into a positive event to promote their personal agendas. In their world, everything equates to a positive even if they have to go so far as to say that at least a lesson might have been learned by someone. No matter how much oil goes up, these guys say well the “good” news for the market is that it isn’t $10 dollars higher. IMO, this extreme policy of “rose colored” glasses seems to be going a too far with this administration. Try the reality of the blue pill for once.
And doesn’t it just drive you crazy that things can still go well when you have determined all is doom and gloom.
By a recent CNN pole only 13% believe that the rescue problems were Bush’s fault. Evedence that the public is becoming more skepitical of journalistic crap, yours included.
Your utopian leanings are ever more clear. Certainly SOMEONE can and should take care of everything and make life perfect (by your definition of perfect of course).
Smith
I haven’t heard that before. Bush actually phoned a Democrat to ask him to do something??? Amazing.
But since the BBC has a good reputation, could you provide the link so we might all have a chance to catch up on this. After all, if Bush had made such a gutsy move, we should all know about it. And we know that something like this couldn’t be made up stuff.
(Imagine that, Bush called a Democrat with advice. Even though the evacuation order was already in effect and people were leaving.)
BTW. The Levee is owned and maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers and therefore was not even in the jurisdiction of the City OR State. Due to underfunding, it was recognized in 2002 that the levee was weak. It was that breach that perhaps caused the worse flooding. The City’s disaster plan was contingent upon the levees holding so the massive pumps could remove storm water. But of course, none of that happened.
Check out the timeline for Andrew and other previous hurricanes, and you will see the bureaucracy actually moved faster here.
It is a fallacy that Katrina will necessarily help our economy. Our spending and GNP will go up, but the GNP is a poor measure of economic strength after a catastrophy. Money that could have gone to moving production or science forward is now diverted to rebuild a city, including homes, infrastructure, and industry. This isn’t a move forward. This is a giant leap backward. And, sadly, this doesn’t account for lives lost. There are no gains to be seen. Any that you see are anomolous. It is a fallacy. Any respectable economist can explain that.
Pat, the aritcle, written by Paul Reynolds, can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4216508.stm
“It [the mandatory evacutation] was announced at a news conference by the Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday 28 August, less than 24 hours before the hurricane struck early the next morning.
“The question has to be asked: Why was it not ordered earlier?
“The Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said at the same news conference that President Bush had called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation.
“The night before, National Hurricane Director Max Mayfield had called Mayor Nagin to tell him that an evacuation was needed. Why were these calls necessary?”
The article isn’t clear on whether it was the governor or the mayor that Bush called.
Environmental groups have been suing to block levees and dams for years now. Even the Louisiana branch of the Sierra Club is boasting on its website how it wants to keep certain areas wet and wild. That’s actually why Bush is President, since the Clinton administration’s plan to change the flow of the Missouri River cost Gore enough votes for Bush to win the state(while John Ashcroft lost the Senate race and Dems won the Governor’s race as well).