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Regardless of the source, you can't ignore that the FEMA budget has been slashed in recent years. That's going to have a serious effect on any disaster. I shudder to think what might happen in the weeks to come -- let's not forget that we're in the peak of hurricane season, and speaking as someone who lives on the edge of a huge subduction fault, a catastrophic earthquake could hit the US at any time.
It's also pretty offensive to me that the FEMA director seems to be so willfully blind to the economic and social realities of the people who are most effected in New Orleans. Without sounding like a bleeding heart, I'll just say it's callous and short-sighted to blame the people for the situation they're in, particularly when most of the people who are suffering are either (1) living paycheck to paycheck; (2) on federal assistance; (3) are the working poor without access to private transportation; (4) don't have the financial resources or extended family network in place to make leaving New Orleans possible.
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