This is how much capitalism cares about you
In the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, local officials had become accustomed to seeing their requests for funding for levee and flood control projects routinely slashed. A large-scale flood control study from years ago was never acted upon due to lack of funding. In the year when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, local officials asked for $78 million in funds for drainage and flood control work, only to see President Bush cut that to $30 million. Congress in turn added a mere $6.5 million to that amount. The shortfall was equivalent to about five hours of military occupation in Iraq.
From the excellent ‘Strange Liberators’ by Gregory Elich. I’ve just finished reading it – will do a review here some time soon. In the meantime, I’d recommend picking up a copy (loads of useful research on Iraq, Korea, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia and the environment).
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