One thing about the hurricane-disaster that really bugs me....

[SnoopDog]

Since I have missed the last weeks of lit, Ithink the best way to re-enter this site is to take a topic that everybody can discuss on.

The thing that really bothers me most about the current european perception of the hurricane-disaster is that we're complaining a hell of a lot more about the gas prices than the human tragey in that area.

Aren't those lives and the discussion about how to save and help them more important than the discussion what we have to pay at the gas-station????


Snoopy, worried beagle

 

[Weird Harold]

The thing that really bothers me most about the current european perception of the hurricane-disaster is that we're complaining a hell of a lot more about the gas prices than the human tragey in that area.

Aren't those lives and the discussion about how to save and help them more important than the discussion what we have to pay at the gas-station????

I'm not personally bitching about gas prices, but it IS something that affects people on a personal level rather than the mostly abstract level of a disaster hundreds or thousands of miles away.

I'm not saying that the deaths an destruction aren't real and serious, only that unless someone is personally involved or has been through a flood or serious hurricane it's not something that is can be understood in the same way that digging an extra $20 bill our of your wallet for gas can.

There is also the perception that the rise in gas prices isn't necessary and is just the result of "Big Oil" making a profit out of the Gulf Coast's misery. That isn't entirely a valid perception, but it does provide a convenient target for the anger and frustration people feel over not being able to "do something" about the disaster. In a small way, it's also anger that the increased cost of getting to work and school reduces the amount of extra income that can be donated to the Red Cross or Salvation Army and preventing even that small consolation to people who can't help in any other way.

You're correct that saving lives and dealing the destruction are more important things to talk about, but those are such daunting prospects that it's just easier to direct the anger and frustration at an easier target that is close to home.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Thanks Harold,
As you so often do- you've put into words something I was thinking about.

 

[hunting_tiger]

The thing that really bothers me most about the current european perception of the hurricane-disaster is that we're complaining a hell of a lot more about the gas prices than the human tragey in that area.

You are kidding aren't you ?

I haven't heard anyone complain about the gas prices this week but everybody are discussing why the people in NO had to sit and wait for so long before they got any help.

We have tried to send help since Thursday but still haven't got an ok to go and we are not the only one with that experience.

 

[Guest]

You are kidding aren't you ?

I haven't heard anyone complain about the gas prices this week but everybody are discussing why the people in NO had to sit and wait for so long before they got any help.

We have tried to send help since Thursday but still haven't got an ok to go and we are not the only one with that experience.

Same here.

We expected the gas prices to go up and they have.

For some of us, sending money and not complaining about the gas prices are the most we can do to help.

 

[SnoopDog]

Well, you should stay here in germany for a day or two and you'd know what I mean.

Snoopy

 

[Goldeniangel]

i know i complain about the gas prices, because i think that some of it probably is just people using this disaster to get more money, which is just fucked up beyond words, but there you go.

and i def agree that a lot of the bitching is because people feel helpless. i live right outside DC and i'm so far away and i have no trianing, and if i was there i'd probably just be in the way,b ut ther's an overwhelming need to DO something.

i felt incredible relief when i found out that 400 people were being relocated to teh DC Armory and there's a nearby police station to drop off supplies at for those people. just because it meant that FINALLY i could do something help SOMEONE. it's a huge relief off of bitching about Bush and gas.

-angel

 

[LadyJeanne]

amicus would be so proud

Houston Finds Business Boon After Katrina

By SIMON ROMERO
Published: September 6, 2005

HOUSTON, Sept. 5 - Perhaps no city in the United States is in a better spot than Houston to turn Katrina's tragedy into opportunity. And businesses here are already scrambling to profit in the hurricane's aftermath.

Oil services companies based here are racing to carry out repairs to damaged offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico; the promise of plenty of work to do sent shares in two large companies, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, soaring to 52-week highs last week. The Port of Houston is preparing for an increase in traffic as shippers divert cargoes away from the damaged ports of Pascagoula, Miss., and New Orleans.

Owners of office space here are witnessing a surge in leasing as New Orleans companies, including that city's oldest bank, scramble to set up new headquarters in Houston, helping to shore up its sagging property market. With brio that might make an ambulance-chaser proud, one company, National Realty Investments, is offering special financing deals "for hurricane survivors only," with no down payments and discounted closing costs.

All this, of course, is capitalism at work, moving quickly to get resources to where they are needed most. And those who move fastest are likely to do best.

~

Halliburton, for instance, moved its headquarters to Houston from Dallas in 2003, joining dozens of companies based here that provide services for oil and natural gas producers.

Halliburton differs from many oil services companies in that it also does significant business with the federal government. The company, which has contracts in Iraq, has a contract with the Navy that has already kept it busy after Hurricane Katrina. The company's KBR unit was doing repairs and cleanup at three naval facilities in Mississippi last week.

Halliburton was also planning to go to New Orleans to start repairs at other naval facilities as soon as it was considered safe to do so, Cathy Mann, a spokeswoman, said.

full nyt story

 

[entitled]

It does make a big difference when people live far away from something like this. Living in Arkansas (not by choice, mind you!) does make it easier for me to help. The pasture behind our house has a couple dozen equines in it, all the surrounding towns of any size have refugees, most of the church camps, Boy and Girl Scout camps, state parks, corps of engineers parks, etc. are completely filled.

There are also individuals and groups that have gotten together to volunteer their services. I don't know about people other places in the world, but in the US anybody can donate food, clothing, bedding, camping gear, cooking equipment, pet food, etc. to a number of organizations. If it's tagged specifically for Katrina survivors, it will get there.

Many people in the SCA have gotten together to help out as well. One of my good friends from this area has actually organised a supply run that covers at least most of the southern US. People drop off supplies at various events, meetings, fighter practices, etc. and they're sorted into care packages, then sent down the supply line by volunteer drivers to the areas that need it most.

There are other ways to help, too. Quite a few people have put in for vacation time so they can go down there and volunteer their services. Building contractors, electricians, plumbers...

It all just comes down to how much each person can do. If it's all you can do to not complain at the price of gas, then it's enough. If it's a few hours helping those at a shelter somewhere, that's plenty as well. If it's dropping off some books, crossword puzzles, school supplies for displaced children, crafts of some sort - believe me, boredom sets in when living in a shelter - that would be wonderful. Offering to let someone come clean your house in exchange for a few dollars and a meal would probably come as a blessing to some people.

Please don't give up trying to help. Every little bit adds up.

 

[cantdog]

Thanks, entitled, it's good to hear some clear and honest news.

Snoop, I am in favor of higher gasoline prices, myself. I love 'em. It may push America into a little conservation, maybe even alternatives.

I brought this up this week and got the same old tired arguments about how imperfect alternatives are, how impractical mass transit is. So evidently the prices are not yet high enough. I can wait. I won't have to wait long. Conservation is already beginning on a grassroots level, even if no one has yet changed their stance on any policies. Maybe eleven dollars a gallon, or five dollars a quart, will be the magic number which wakes people up. It'll get there. The soooner the better, from my point of view.

 

[Alex756]

Thanks, entitled, it's good to hear some clear and honest news.

Snoop, I am in favor of higher gasoline prices, myself. I love 'em. It may push America into a little conservation, maybe even alternatives.

I brought this up this week and got the same old tired arguments about how imperfect alternatives are, how impractical mass transit is. So evidently the prices are not yet high enough. I can wait. I won't have to wait long. Conservation is already beginning on a grassroots level, even if no one has yet changed their stance on any policies. Maybe eleven dollars a gallon, or five dollars a quart, will be the magic number which wakes people up. It'll get there. The soooner the better, from my point of view.

Oh conservation is hitting suburbia, I am proud to report from my cul de sac.

I see people grabbing the car instead of the SUV more often. At mommy and me groups people are talking about consolidating trips or *gasp* going to the closer mall. I fill up once or twice a month. I go to the closer grocery store instead of the trendy one 15 miles away and I don't drive to the fancy mall as it is.

And *gasp* my husband actually was saying people at work were talking at lunch about -carpooling- wow who woulda thought THAT would have occured to people. 3 people on my little 3 block road here all independently drive 50 miles in heavy traffic to work, they work near identical hours in the same LARGE office building. I always thought it ws stupid they didn't carpool, now evidently their wallets agree.

-Alex

 

[entitled]

Oh conservation is hitting suburbia, I am proud to report from my cul de sac.

-Alex

Hooray for that! If only we all lived in suburbia...

As it is, the nearest grocery store -is- 15 miles away (to hell with trendy, this is all we've got). It's a little difficult to carpool when the nearest neighbor working at the same place is also 15 miles away. It just happens to be in a completely different direction.

If only we'd gotten in this house early enough to plant a garden this year...

 

[cloudy]

Hooray for that! If only we all lived in suburbia...

As it is, the nearest grocery store -is- 15 miles away (to hell with trendy, this is all we've got). It's a little difficult to carpool when the nearest neighbor working at the same place is also 15 miles away. It just happens to be in a completely different direction.

If only we'd gotten in this house early enough to plant a garden this year...

I feel your pain. Do you live down the road from me?

 

[Alex756]

I feel your pain. Do you live down the road from me?

I know what thats like, I rember when going to the mall meant planning for a week and a trip longer than an hour. But the more gas guzzeling hummers parked the better for us all

-Alex

 

[cloudy]

I know what thats like, I rember when going to the mall meant planning for a week and a trip longer than an hour. But the more gas guzzeling hummers parked the better for us all

-Alex

I leave in the least populated county of Alabama. There are more cows or chickens here than there are people.

I get all my errands done in one day - there is no "running to the store" for this or that, because the nearest store, even a convenience store, is 20 minutes away.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

My anger about prices is not a "gosh I have to give more money, that's unfair" bullshit, but rather that it is profiteering in action. Seeing little shits making political capital or monetary capital off the deaths and suffering of all those people sickens me on a personal level. The way the people are blamed, the way this tragedy wasn't prepared for because people had to skim off the top, and the way even now with the dead bodies and the refugees, people are still looking to make some gain off the whole thing. That to me aggravates me to such a level that it trumps my empathy. I feel bad for the victims, but I feel more rage for the profiteers.

I suspect many also feel the same. Thus the appearance of superficial gas prices debate going alongside discussion of the tragic loss of lives and the state of the refugees.

 

[amicus]

There is no 'real' shortage of gasoline in the United States.

Prompted by network and cable news speculation that there 'might' be interruptions in supply due to the storm, people immediately, (in their own best interest) filled and topped off their tanks.

That created a momentary shortage in supply and as demand increased, so did price.

Simple economics and just a little knowledge of the supply system, but then, economics and reality are not a high points with Liberals.


amicus the inscrutable scrotum....

 

[Guest]

Where ya been, ami?

Carrying water for your prez?

 

[yui]

There is no 'real' shortage of gasoline in the United States.

Prompted by network and cable news speculation that there 'might' be interruptions in supply due to the storm, people immediately, (in their own best interest) filled and topped off their tanks.

That created a momentary shortage in supply and as demand increased, so did price.

Simple economics and just a little knowledge of the supply system, but then, economics and reality are not a high points with Liberals.


amicus the inscrutable scrotum....

A self-fulfilling prophecy, then? Sort of OPECs Wreaks, so to speak.

And I've got to ask, though please feel free to tell me it is none of my business, but why would your scrotum be obscure?

 

[Belegon]

Ya know, not all of us here have liberal arts degrees...nor do we all work in non-financial fields...

The only precepts from business that really apply to why gas prices would jump 2500 miles away are "perception=reality" and "Whatever the market will bear...".

the idea that the surge is from panic'd individuals filling up is mind-bogglingly ridiculous...if it worked that way we would see these jumps in price before every three day weekend...

 

[Dar~]

Ya know, not all of us here have liberal arts degrees...nor do we all work in non-financial fields...

The only precepts from business that really apply to why gas prices would jump 2500 miles away are "perception=reality" and "Whatever the market will bear...".

the idea that the surge is from panic'd individuals filling up is mind-bogglingly ridiculous...if it worked that way we would see these jumps in price before every three day weekend...

I love me some Belegon

 

[amicus]

You will note the absence of news reports concerning the shortage of gasoline in coming days and the decrease in price.

and inscrutable scrotum? just interesting alliteration as I strive to entertain and amuse...

the amicable amicus...not the vagina monogue, rather the penis soliloquey

(a work in progress)

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Ya know, not all of us here have liberal arts degrees...nor do we all work in non-financial fields...

The only precepts from business that really apply to why gas prices would jump 2500 miles away are "perception=reality" and "Whatever the market will bear...".

the idea that the surge is from panic'd individuals filling up is mind-bogglingly ridiculous...if it worked that way we would see these jumps in price before every three day weekend...

2500 miles away in a state that refines its own oil and thus has 0 change in supply from the region as well as a populace that wasn't stocking up (causing 0 change in demand).

According to capitalism, such disaster profiteers would need to be severely punished in order to prevent such an abuse of power threatening the market as a whole. Too bad today's "capitalists" are communists.

 

[Belegon]

man, I'm almost tempted to pull Amicus off ignore to see what he said....



no, I'm not...

 

[amicus]

Well, Lucifer, you probably ignored the several hundred lawsuits against those who 'priced gouged' with gasoline prices in several states as you most likely ignored the Florida businesses that were sued for 'price gouging' during last years hurricanes for building supplies.

Captialism works just fine, thank you and will continue to do so much to the chagrin of collectivists everywhere.

amicus...


and Belegon..was it? you missed a good reply...