Government
should financially plan
Our
view
The
eyes of the nation and much of the world
have been carefully watching the devastation
of Hurricane Katrina. With each passing
day new developments are reported, notably
the billions of dollars pervading the
news.
BBC News reported the total damage at $125 billion. The aid being given according
to the Associated Press is $62 billion — it’s enough to make your
head spin at the sheer vast amount of Benjamins floating around while we college
students work hard just to make above minimum wage.
The numbers are so big and so intangible that they become just numbers. You
would think that someone, some intelligent higher being, is in charge to make
sure all the money gets where it is needed most and out of the hands of opportunists
looking to cash in.
Unfortunately, with large amounts of cash come even larger amounts of problems
that make a major disaster even more disastrous. Because of the emergency status
of the Katrina situation, federal money is being quickly distributed using
a spend-now and figure-it-all-out-later plan.
This ultimately means someone has to pay, and that someone is each of us here.
The borrowing done to finance for the monetary distribution is then handed
to us, the younger generation. The weight of debt from previous eras rests
upon our shoulders. This technique, though quite common, is irresponsible.
The federal government cannot use its unlimited credit line, the biggest Visa
card of them all, to dig itself out of holes. This is not to say Katrina does
not require or deserve aid. It does and in a big way, but that help must be
implemented in a responsible and exemplary manner.
According to a USA Today editorial of Sept. 13, “...The planning for
successful rebuilding campaign is nowhere to be found.” For the record,
count another strike against our government which fails to adequately serve
the people in their most desperate hour.
There seems to be simply no planning going on even though billions of dollars
exit federal checkbooks every day. Consider the lack of arrangement with the
current no-bid basis for awarding rebuilding contracts to the ravaged Gulf.
It is yet another exercise in irresponsibility.
Combine that with the resignation of Michael Brown, the former head of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is sickening to realize Brown, a man
once positioned to be a leader for support during America’s darker hours,
was so incompetent he bailed out already. It’s comparable to the captain
abandoning ship even before it hits the iceberg.
Someone needs to plan everything out, but knowing the current administration’s
track record for planning, the situation appears grim. May the money go where
it needs to go — to the victims — and not to bystanders looking
for free hand outs. May there be a rhyme and reason to the reconstruction process,
not a free-for-all hysteria. |
