- In this article, business owners who had their businesses wiped out by Hurricane Sandy were offered long-term, low-interest SBA loans so that they could rebuild. Turns out they don't want loans, they want the government to GIVE them money. I'm sure they realize that the government doesn't actually generate money, it just re-appropriates tax money to various expenses and that tax money comes from me and you and everyone else who pays taxes. So these people want ME to help pay to rebuild their businesses and I will get exactly nothing out of the deal. Sounds like BS to me. I think the people in the comment section of the article pretty much covered all of the things that I think about this unreasonable request to jack the money right out of my wallet. tldr; If you are a business owner you are responsible for having a disaster plan, having an emergency fund, and insuring your business (and, if like some of these people, no insurance company will cover you...there's your sign. Duh).
- And then there was this video. The lady featured in the video made a wonderful sound bite which all of the news shows pickup up. I mean who wouldn't feel sorry for an old woman who has only had one piece of pizza to eat in two days? This was shot two days after the storm, in a place where the residents were told to evacuate but who stayed in their homes and...didn't have enough food at home to keep them fed for two days?? In many places you are lucky if anyone shows up after a disaster to help you and also in many places it becomes a "neighbor helping neighbor" kind of thing but in the US people demand that they receive help and receive it now yet they don't seem to make any sort of preparations to help themselves. EVERYONE should be responsible for taking care of themselves, with no outside help whatsoever, for at least a week after a disaster which would allow enough time for aid to get to you. I mean if there are millions and millions affected why would it even seem reasonable that YOU are the one that gets help NOW? Everyone should have a month's worth of extra food in their house. Everyone should have an alternate heat source, an alternate cooking source, and a way to purify water. Your BOB alone should encompass all of these items so that no matter where you end up--in your wrecked home or in a shelter or camping outside for a couple of weeks--you will be able to take care of yourself until help arrives.
Yes I know I am preaching to the choir. I'll hop off my soapbox now.
The modern bread-and-circuses world we live in fosters short attention spans, never talks about preparedness unless it's in the negative context of 'preppers' and 'bunkers' and the like, and most modern folks don't have any concept of where electricity, and food, and water, and all the rest actually come from.
ReplyDeleteAs long as preparedness is ridiculed and looked upon as something unnecessary, we'll have people building in flood plains and whining because their house was flooded again.
As for businesses getting loans vs. immediate cash: another way to look at this is with regard to dealing with the bureaucracy surrounding actually getting a loan and the time it involves, vs. having money in hand now to go to the big box store and get plywood, etc.
It is truly interesting post, but I do not see everything completely clear, especially for someone not involved in that topic. Anyway very interesting to me.
ReplyDeleterecovering pst files
Thanks for the post and I'm a long-time reader/fan of the blog. I wanted to follow-up a few things from my perspective living on Staten Island through the hurricane and being 1/2 mile from some of the hardest hit areas
ReplyDelete-- Self-reliance is key, not saying anything you don't know but government assistance (your tax dollars) is slow
-- The community / neighbors will help rebuild
-- Some of your neighbors will close the door in your face (a woman lost two kids to storm surge after man turned her away)
-- Be prepared but think about even the unexpected (i.e. flood waters rising to chest level in 3 minutes / 2 miles from the ocean)
-- Even if you had stored food they could be wiped out (see above about ocean waters and woman stating only had 2 slices of pizza) have multiple caches
-- Social media (Twitter) is a source of great information (as well as dated details / rumors /mis-information and lies)
-- Protect your property -there will be looters looking to take advantage even those who were dislocated and lost everything
-- Be patience - rebuilding takes time
-- If your asked to leave... just leave
Good info. The bottom line is to plan ahead, be prepared, and count yourself fortunate if and when help arrives but don't think you are entitled to immediate help because when millions and millions of people are impacted it could take quite a while for help to arrive. This event was a learning experience for everyone.
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