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Originally Posted by Lemmy
The problem isn't with the welfare state, because America isn't one. .
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Lemmy - the problem is that (having lived there and going back constantly) New Orleans is a welfare state - true the rest of the country is not on average but there are pockets in Wash DC, Chicago, etc - and I think the point here is that what was left after the initial call for evacuation was a complete welfare state.
The interesting comment I heard yesterday - and most people have missed this - the murder/rape/injury rate in New Orleans that youve been hearing about (possibly blown out of proportion for news casts but thats another topic) is way lower than the normal rate for that city - all the tourists and cabbies are gone so they dont have anyone to kill.
The gang related violence is a hidden, but definitely a huge part of New Orleans - it doesnt get a lot of publicity - they would lose the convention and tourism trade if it was publicized.
Most of the people that are causing the problems that are being reported are the gangs that dont want to lose their "turf" and are protecting it - the police units know who they are - and are trying to deal with them - but its tough when you still have a quarter of the police force out of communication (not their fault - its a command and control issue with the mayor) and still holing up in certain parts of the city as separate "police forces" that are slowly being brought back into the response organization - its just a matter of getting them the comms and directing the separate "precincts" into one force.
I also disagree that it has anything whatsoever to do with race - its class - and that is something the city just did not plan for - no matter what the politics and news spinners spew - it is just a logistical fact that the class of people that are still there are not people with the means to get themselves out of the city - and every city in this country has the same problem - they dont have a plan to evacuated "everyone" - they depend on personal vehicles for most of it.
The only difference in this case against other cities is that New Orleans is actually a smaller city and we are just lucky this was not a city like NYC where we would be facing hundreds of thousands of deaths - something to think about.