Katrina in perspective

Peter Dreier sums up the politics of Katrina and the role of government in Dissent Magazine. See also my earlier post calling for a new WPA for Iraq and Katrina.

The Katrina disaster begs the larger question: What responsibility, if any, does the federal government have to provide Americans with decent housing, access to health care, and opportunities for work that pays a living wage? Should government help people cope with the vicissitudes of the business cycle, the inequities of the market economy, and just plain old bad luck?

Conservatives are willing to spend billions of dollars to rescue people and businesses from a "natural" disaster, like a hurricane or earthquake, but not a human-made disaster, like chronic poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. We have FEMA for natural disaster relief but no modern-day equivalent of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) for human disaster relief to address the widespread human needs associated with poverty in New Orleans and elsewhere.