Being Less Poor: Update

I have written about why people are poor before, mostly related to the issue of voting and how the Democrat's claim that poor people will not be able to vote because they can't afford the cost for a Government-issued photo ID. That is a load of bull. From Environmental Republican there is news out that the Liberal LA Times is blaming FEMA for how some of the poor have abused the aid money that they received from FEMA:

MOVE OVER, RECKLESS CONSUMERS. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has outdone your irresponsible spending by racking up a debit card bill so outrageous it could have been created using Mad Libs. Sex-change operations, vacations to the Dominican Republic and wild nights at strip clubs were all bought on the government's dime by both con artists and legitimate victims of Hurricane Katrina. But try to keep that knee from jerking — although FEMA's oversight was lacking, wasted money is an inevitable byproduct of providing rapid emergency assistance. - LA Times

What a way to excuse bad behavior in claiming that your irresponsibility is not as bad as the Governments. Lets see, what were these people lacking before the hurricanes:

- Cars
- Gasoline
- Photo ids in order to vote

There is no evidence that any FEMA money was used to purchase those items, but instead used to purchase:

Debit cards issued by FEMA to cover emergency expenses, the GAO reported, were frequently used for purchases ``that did not appear to meet legitimate disaster needs." Like diamond jewelry. And fireworks. And season tickets to the New Orleans Saints, a bottle of champagne at Hooters, $300 worth of ``Girls Gone Wild" videos, and a Caribbean vacation. And that doesn't include the 381 debit cards, worth $762,000, that FEMA lost. - Boston.com

Another 'victim' had the Government cover a couple months in a hotel in Hawaii. The weirdest purchase as far as I am concerned was the season tickets for the Saints. Really, would anyone want to go back into the Superdome again after being trapped there? There were lots of other items that hurricane money was wasted on in addition to what was mentioned in the news.

Now for the most part the people who received these cards were poor people. While $2,000 is not a lot of money, it is when you have little else. Which brings me (again) to why people are poor:

- They do not earn enough money
- They spend too much money / Save too little

What is completely missing in all of this is personal responsibility for themselves. The money was spent this way because these people expect the Government to still provide for them at the end of the day and the money was for them to do as they please. After all, nobody gave them instructions on what they could and could not do with the cash. Responsible people would have conserved the cash, but then again most responsible people are not poor. Then again what good would come to them by not spending the money, the Government might tell them to use the funds for this or that. But you can't if you don't have it any longer.

Will those who abused the funds be held accountable? Most likely not. This will serve as an example for the rest the next time because everyone will remember what these people got away with this time. All the more reason to hold these abusers accountable. If not, then why bother doing the investigation in the first place? All it does is create a shopping list.

LA Times Blames FEMA - Environmental Republican
Georgia Voter ID Law a ‘Poll Tax’ Says U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy - 20 Oct 05
Being Less Poor - 27 October 05

A hurricane of fraud - LA Times