Forums » Off-Topic
Bloated, ineffective government was the PROBLEM in New Orleans and quite frankly throughout the United States. The only motivating factor for government is being fired or voted out of office. When people aren't personally motivated to be efficient or to do a good job, guess what happens? Yep. You get employees who show up, do the bare minimum for 30 years, then retire on a government pension. Same thing with politicians - they do just enough work to get re-elected, other than that, they're looking to benefit themselves as much as possible.
There's a reason that private industry and private companies consistently outperform government bureaucracies.
In New Orleans, every year they had a budget to repair and maintain the Levees, with grants from the federal government. Each parish got a portion of tax dollars to do their maintenance. However, due to corruption and laziness, it was always easy to rob from the levee fund to pay for other things. So no one ever used the money for what it was supposed to be used for. Payback was, indeed, a bitch.
People depending on the government for every little thing, feeling a sense of entitlement for many things which they have not earned, and when everything goes to hell, expecting the government to swoop in and save them? THAT IS NOT AMERICA.
Look at FEMA, they wasted billions giving money away to people who didn't need it or deserve it. Liberals decried the human suffering and said OMG! Throw money at the problem! So we did, and... nothing happened. A lot of New Orleans is still a shithole.. STILL! After two YEARS! People who left and cashed in still live in Baton Rouge, or Houston, or San Antonio, with no intention to move back and rebuild. But they have new TV's and new cars, thanks to the other taxpayers in the country.
Money alone does not solve problems. Willpower and a drive to succeed solve problems; without those no amount of money will do a damn thing but be wasted.
I've got a brother-in-law who lived in Biloxi, his house was smashed up a goodly amount. He fixed it himself as soon as he moved back, with whatever small amount of money he had left. He didn't wait around for the government to come fix his house, and complain that they were taking too long to do it, and then complain more when the work wasn't done perfectly.
I'm very much a "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" kind of guy, and I'd like to think that's a trait of Americans everywhere; sadly, I think we've lost that portion of our collective national identity.
There's a reason that private industry and private companies consistently outperform government bureaucracies.
In New Orleans, every year they had a budget to repair and maintain the Levees, with grants from the federal government. Each parish got a portion of tax dollars to do their maintenance. However, due to corruption and laziness, it was always easy to rob from the levee fund to pay for other things. So no one ever used the money for what it was supposed to be used for. Payback was, indeed, a bitch.
People depending on the government for every little thing, feeling a sense of entitlement for many things which they have not earned, and when everything goes to hell, expecting the government to swoop in and save them? THAT IS NOT AMERICA.
Look at FEMA, they wasted billions giving money away to people who didn't need it or deserve it. Liberals decried the human suffering and said OMG! Throw money at the problem! So we did, and... nothing happened. A lot of New Orleans is still a shithole.. STILL! After two YEARS! People who left and cashed in still live in Baton Rouge, or Houston, or San Antonio, with no intention to move back and rebuild. But they have new TV's and new cars, thanks to the other taxpayers in the country.
Money alone does not solve problems. Willpower and a drive to succeed solve problems; without those no amount of money will do a damn thing but be wasted.
I've got a brother-in-law who lived in Biloxi, his house was smashed up a goodly amount. He fixed it himself as soon as he moved back, with whatever small amount of money he had left. He didn't wait around for the government to come fix his house, and complain that they were taking too long to do it, and then complain more when the work wasn't done perfectly.
I'm very much a "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" kind of guy, and I'd like to think that's a trait of Americans everywhere; sadly, I think we've lost that portion of our collective national identity.
I think we can safely say that this thread is no longer on the topic of VO.
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LOL Agreed. Might I say yer doing a fine job of Forum Moderating, Whistler? You should get like a special medal or sumtin.