One disaster after another
Here's a heartwarming story about the Bush Administration's response to 9/11: Billions of dollars set aside to make low-interest loans to help 9/11-impacted businesses get back on their feet, were squandered. The Small Business Administration's oversight of the ultimate lending of the program's $5 billion was virtually nonexistent. Loans went to a dog boarding outfit in Utah, 55 Dunkin Donut shops around the country, 14 Quiznos sandwich shops, 52 Subway sandwich shops, 14 Dairy Queens, a toney McMinnville winery, a Portland rock-climbing gym, and scores of other businesses who couldn't possibly have been further removed from the tragedy of that day. Some of them made up humorous stories about their supposed ties to the 9/11 massacre, but many were never asked; they were never even told why they were getting such a good interest rate. Little of the money -- less than 11 percent -- went to New York and D.C., where all the destruction and death was. The banks who lent out the funds made out like bandits.
Just another fine job by the Bush Administration. Run by a C-minus student, and it shows.
And there's three more years of this to go. You asked for it, Ohio! Better spend 9/11/05 praying -- for the victims and their families, but also for the rest of us. And checking out that disaster survival kit in the basement.
| Posted at 11:22 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Government mismanagement? Government incompetence? What the heck? Do these bozos think they're New Orleans Democrats? Yet another example that government is generally corrupt or lazy.
Posted by Scott-in-Japan | September 11, 2005 12:38 AM
Hi,
I checked your blog--while on vacation no less!--figuring it was the most likely place to find someone asking about Portlandīs disaster preparations. But alas, no mention. I see nothing at Willy Week or the Boregonian either. Has any Portland politician managed to mention a review of our disaster preparedness plan?
Posted by Matt | September 11, 2005 6:47 AM
While reading Scott-in-Japan's comments I couldn't help but think that our current administration really could benefit from being more like New Orleans Democrats. Had it not been for the huge public outcry and pleas from the New Orleans Democrats what would the neo-clowns have done?
Posted by mike-in-portland | September 11, 2005 10:29 AM
While I definitely blame the government for its totally inept handling of these programs, I place an equal chunk of blame on people who had no connection to 9/11 and who decided to just take a run at the money and soak the government (aka taxpayers aka you and me).
For example, this story from the Sun-Sentinel:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fema10aug10,0,2403181.story?coll=sfl-news-browardcomm&track=mostemailedlink
"The federal government used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by last year's storms, the state's coroners have concluded.
The deaths include a Palm Beach Gardens millionaire recovering from heart surgery who died two days before Hurricane Frances; a Miami baby not yet born when the storm arrived; and a Port Charlotte man who died of cirrhosis and heart failure five months after Hurricane Charley." (story goes on from there)
Also, I just read in the news a couple days ago that the federal government stopped the $2000 debit card program they'd just started - and it nearly caused a riot at the Houston Astrodome. Seems that poor folk in Houston who had no connection whatsoever with the hurricane heard about the debit card program, decided they wanted "free money" too, and made a run for the dome. Officials finally had to lock the gates to the Astrodome complex and light up the electronic readerboard signs on the highway saying "no debit cards at Astrodome".
We've sunk into a culture where the moment the government hands out anything "free", we grab for it without thinking who's paying for it in the long run.
(Sorry for the length of this post - I won't do it again!)
Posted by RAH | September 11, 2005 12:12 PM
Err... You do know that Kerry was a C- student too, no? That in fact, Bush's GPA was higher? Jesus, I can't believe you'd be bringing up something so irrelevent at a time like this... So either way, "Ohio" would've only been able to pick a C- student, unless it went with Nader or Badnarik. *sigh*...
Posted by kraorh | September 11, 2005 9:59 PM
at a time like this
It's been "a time like this" ever since the 2000 election. At some point, you have to face valid criticism. Continuously screwing new things up and creating more crises only buys you a pass for a limited period of time.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 11, 2005 10:52 PM
Matt - There is no PDX plan, we're all gonna die after downtown falls into the silt. If that isn't already clear to you yet, let me be the first to welcome you to Portland!
mike-in-portland - Keep in mind that the Dem Governor in LA kept the Federales out for an additional day while she had a case of the vapors. Sure, Bush could have stormed in over her ineptitude - but since he really isn't Hitler - he doesn't do things like seize power from individual states. Damn facts, anyway.
Posted by Scott-in-Japan | September 12, 2005 1:42 AM
Scott-in-Japan: Could you explain "vapors". I looked for what you described in the Katrina timeline documented here;
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline
but I couldn't find it.
Posted by mike-in-portland | September 12, 2005 1:26 PM
"We've sunk into a culture where the moment the government hands out anything "free", we grab for it without thinking who's paying for it in the long run."
Uh, thats been institutionalized for many, many years by the wealthy in this country. The poor are just finally getting a clue to jump on in on the savings, apparently.
Posted by Argon | September 12, 2005 5:00 PM
Welllll...the right thing to do would be to ask the business owners who profited from this mistake to go back to their banks and ask for their loans to be refinaced with dollars not allocated to 9/11 victims and have the banks that were so unaware, pay for all the refinancing charges...I would never want to support a business that was not willing to do so....if they had no idea where there money was coming from then they should not have any problem
with this...sooooo
Posted by geri | September 16, 2005 3:52 PM