This piece at The Smoking Gun will make you feel all warm and fuzzy about having contributed your hard-earned money to relief for victims of Katrina:
Some victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita used federal assistance money to pay for "adult erotica," a pistol, strip club fees, and at least one $450 tattoo, according to a new government audit. A Government Accountability Office review of weaknesses in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's distribution of aid describes some of the abuse connected with FEMA's dispensing of $2000 debit cards. While most of the February 13 GAO report addresses the use of multiple social security numbers to secure unwarranted handouts, auditors also examined where some of those funds were expended.
This is just one more reminder that throwing money at people is no way to help anyone. It provides a disincentive for those in need to do what they can to help themselves and makes the providers of the largesse cynical about the recipients. Wouldn't it have been better to use some of the $60 billion or so that's gone south to set up an oversight agency to make sure that it's going to meet real human needs and not just to gratify human wants?
And while we're sounding like churlish curmudgeons, why is it that taxpayers are still paying to put storm evacuees up in hotels? Six months after the storm shouldn't these people be expected to find their own accomodations? Don't they have friends or family who can help them get resettled? Who is ensuring that recipients of taxpayer munificence are out looking for work so that they no longer rely on public help? Or is there simply no incentive to resort to self-reliance and extended family when taxpayers are standing by to give you what you need for free?
