WEATHER / ECONOMY
WEATHER
Coping With Katrina
"The devastation is greater than our worst fears," declared Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Two days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast region, elected officials and aid workers are beginning to assess the totality of the damage done by the storm. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said up to 80 deaths have been reported in Harrison County alone; some estimate the number is closer to 110. Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu reported that at least 50 to 100 people were dead in New Orleans. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans is submerged under water, with some sections of the city experiencing standing water as deep as 20 feet. Approximately 3 million residents along the Gulf Coast remain without power, and tens of thousands have no phone service. Residents who returned to their homes in parts of three states -- Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama -- were without safe drinking water, had limited shelter and food, faced the threat of looting and downed power lines, and had poor access to medical care. Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway said, "This is our tsunami."
THE SUPERDOME FACES WORSENING CONDITIONS: As of Wednesday morning, the Superdome in New Orleans housed approximately 20,000 to 30,000 stranded civilians. Conditions deteriorated as the population inside the dome grew. Bathrooms were filthy, urinals were backed up, electricity was out, air conditioning was not available, and part of the roof collapsed. Scores of sick patients from nearby evacuated hospitals were moved into the Superdome, where four individuals later died. Yet despite an environment that the Washington Post termed a "festering hellhole," many in the Superdome were more than happy to have a refuge from the chaos erupting outside. National Guard soldiers did their best to accommodate the massive crowd. But with the increased threats of flooding putting the city of New Orleans at greater risk, Gov. Blanco ordered the evacuation of the dome within the next two days.
HOW TO HELP: Charities and the federal government are launching what aid agencies predict could be "the longest and costliest relief effort in U.S. history." Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is urging those who want to help to make cash donations. Cash donations "allow volunteer agencies to issue cash vouchers to victims so they can meet their needs. Cash donations also allow agencies to avoid the labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated goods. Donated money prevents, too, the prohibitive cost of air or sea transportation that donated goods require." Here is the list of agencies that FEMA is directing people to contact (if you decide to give to a different charity, beware of scams).
ECONOMY
The American Underclass
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary John Snow acknowledged that "the fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally." New data from the Census Bureau on income, poverty and health coverage support his claim. The statistics reveal a growing economic underclass living in poverty, lacking health coverage and stuck with stagnating wages.
MORE AMERICANS LIVING IN POVERTY: Last year, 37 million Americans -- 12.7 percent of the population -- lived in poverty. The figures represent "the fourth straight year that the report found an increase in the U.S. poverty rate." In 2000, there were 5.5 million fewer people below the poverty line. Nevertheless, the Bush administration spun the poverty rates as "good news," noting that there were other times in American history when the poverty rate was higher.
MORE AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE: The Census Bureau report found "the number of uninsured Americans stood at 45.8 million in 2004, an increase of 800,000 people over the number uninsured in 2003." It's the fourth straight year the ranks of the uninsured swelled. Overall, "six million more people lacked health insurance in 2004 than in 2000." Sadly, those figures understate the extent of the problem. Rising poverty rates meant more Americans were eligible for Medicaid and other government health insurance programs. Increased enrollment in government programs "helped offset the reduction in private employer-sponsored insurance." However, even as the proportion of Americans without employer-sponsored coverage decreases, public insurance programs as they are currently structured cannot provide a safety net for everyone. For example, 350,000 single adults lost health insurance between 2003 and 2004 -- and these individuals generally do not qualify for Medicaid coverage, no matter how small their income. Only a comprehensive effort to address these inequities within the health care system can reverse these long-term trends.
STAGNATING AND DECLINING WAGES: The median income in 2004 was unchanged from the previous year. It's the fifth straight year median income failed to increase, the first time that's happened since the government began collecting the data in 1967. Many people saw their earnings decrease. For example, the median income for all non-elderly households decreased by $600 as compared to 2003. In the Midwest, median household income fell by $1,277. Phillip L. Swagel, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, acknowledged that "the gains from the recovery haven't really filtered down. The gains have gone to owners of capital and not to workers."
MEANWHILE, CEO PAY SKYROCKETS: As millions of Americans struggled, corporate CEOs enjoyed another banner year. In 2004, the average CEO made 430 times as much as the average worker, up from a ratio of 301-to-1 in 2003. If the minimum wage had grown at the same rate as CEO pay since 1990, "the lowest paid workers in the US would be earning $23.03 an hour today."
Coping With Katrina
"The devastation is greater than our worst fears," declared Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Two days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast region, elected officials and aid workers are beginning to assess the totality of the damage done by the storm. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said up to 80 deaths have been reported in Harrison County alone; some estimate the number is closer to 110. Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu reported that at least 50 to 100 people were dead in New Orleans. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans is submerged under water, with some sections of the city experiencing standing water as deep as 20 feet. Approximately 3 million residents along the Gulf Coast remain without power, and tens of thousands have no phone service. Residents who returned to their homes in parts of three states -- Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama -- were without safe drinking water, had limited shelter and food, faced the threat of looting and downed power lines, and had poor access to medical care. Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway said, "This is our tsunami."
THE SUPERDOME FACES WORSENING CONDITIONS: As of Wednesday morning, the Superdome in New Orleans housed approximately 20,000 to 30,000 stranded civilians. Conditions deteriorated as the population inside the dome grew. Bathrooms were filthy, urinals were backed up, electricity was out, air conditioning was not available, and part of the roof collapsed. Scores of sick patients from nearby evacuated hospitals were moved into the Superdome, where four individuals later died. Yet despite an environment that the Washington Post termed a "festering hellhole," many in the Superdome were more than happy to have a refuge from the chaos erupting outside. National Guard soldiers did their best to accommodate the massive crowd. But with the increased threats of flooding putting the city of New Orleans at greater risk, Gov. Blanco ordered the evacuation of the dome within the next two days.
HOW TO HELP: Charities and the federal government are launching what aid agencies predict could be "the longest and costliest relief effort in U.S. history." Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is urging those who want to help to make cash donations. Cash donations "allow volunteer agencies to issue cash vouchers to victims so they can meet their needs. Cash donations also allow agencies to avoid the labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated goods. Donated money prevents, too, the prohibitive cost of air or sea transportation that donated goods require." Here is the list of agencies that FEMA is directing people to contact (if you decide to give to a different charity, beware of scams).
ECONOMY
The American Underclass
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary John Snow acknowledged that "the fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally." New data from the Census Bureau on income, poverty and health coverage support his claim. The statistics reveal a growing economic underclass living in poverty, lacking health coverage and stuck with stagnating wages.
MORE AMERICANS LIVING IN POVERTY: Last year, 37 million Americans -- 12.7 percent of the population -- lived in poverty. The figures represent "the fourth straight year that the report found an increase in the U.S. poverty rate." In 2000, there were 5.5 million fewer people below the poverty line. Nevertheless, the Bush administration spun the poverty rates as "good news," noting that there were other times in American history when the poverty rate was higher.
MORE AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE: The Census Bureau report found "the number of uninsured Americans stood at 45.8 million in 2004, an increase of 800,000 people over the number uninsured in 2003." It's the fourth straight year the ranks of the uninsured swelled. Overall, "six million more people lacked health insurance in 2004 than in 2000." Sadly, those figures understate the extent of the problem. Rising poverty rates meant more Americans were eligible for Medicaid and other government health insurance programs. Increased enrollment in government programs "helped offset the reduction in private employer-sponsored insurance." However, even as the proportion of Americans without employer-sponsored coverage decreases, public insurance programs as they are currently structured cannot provide a safety net for everyone. For example, 350,000 single adults lost health insurance between 2003 and 2004 -- and these individuals generally do not qualify for Medicaid coverage, no matter how small their income. Only a comprehensive effort to address these inequities within the health care system can reverse these long-term trends.
STAGNATING AND DECLINING WAGES: The median income in 2004 was unchanged from the previous year. It's the fifth straight year median income failed to increase, the first time that's happened since the government began collecting the data in 1967. Many people saw their earnings decrease. For example, the median income for all non-elderly households decreased by $600 as compared to 2003. In the Midwest, median household income fell by $1,277. Phillip L. Swagel, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, acknowledged that "the gains from the recovery haven't really filtered down. The gains have gone to owners of capital and not to workers."
MEANWHILE, CEO PAY SKYROCKETS: As millions of Americans struggled, corporate CEOs enjoyed another banner year. In 2004, the average CEO made 430 times as much as the average worker, up from a ratio of 301-to-1 in 2003. If the minimum wage had grown at the same rate as CEO pay since 1990, "the lowest paid workers in the US would be earning $23.03 an hour today."
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 9:42 AM
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