New Orleans: The Wages Of Socialism

[chefws]

New Orleans: The Wages of Socialism
Special from Hawaii Free Press
By Andrew Walden, 9/5/2005 8:07:58 PM
What is it that bends and twists the soul of man in New Orleans such that he shoots at his rescuers, steals televisions while others drown, and then blames all and sundry for not helping enough? Biloxi and the rural areas of costal Louisiana and Mississippi have similar ethnic makeup and are equally hard-hit: yet they were not witness to the self-imposed parts of New Orleans’ devastation.

The answer lies in the peculiar political economy of dependency in New Orleans, home to some of America’s last remaining old-style housing "projects," home to legions of life-long welfare recipients and home to the bureaucratic and corrupt political structure which sustains itself by maintaining its "clients" -- in poverty. While the American economy has boomed for two decades, New Orleans remains a city where over 100,000 people cannot afford their own car.

A sedentary life of welfare check cashing combined with the feelings of futility and depression which naturally result from the lack of a guiding purpose in life leads to poor nutrition, alcoholism, drug abuse and then chronic health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, emphysema, and heart disease. New Orleans’ public hospitals service these new clients but do not (or cannot) cure the chronically ill, creating yet another layer of dependency and the corresponding income stream for bureaucrats.

The chronically ill are too weak to work, creating another reason to stay on welfare or disability. Their children are raised by a parent who is herself completely at the mercy of "the system." To the child, the government’s power and responsibility looms larger than mom’s and the father is usually nowhere in sight.

Thus the culture of dependency continues into the next generation as does the culture of "being owed." Since society "owes" them, there is no moral argument against property crimes. Once that slippery slope is reached, violent crimes follow along. The police sometime catch the criminals and they enter the criminal justice "system" becoming, in yet another way, wards of the state. These wards of the state might have benefited most from the jobs created in America’s booming economy -- but they rarely take the initiative to even apply for work. When they do, they usually don’t have an understanding of what it takes to get and keep employment. Without realizing it, their cycle of dependency gives them one excuse after another to feel trapped, "owed," and oppressed -- while living on the dole.

In this world someone who works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and supports a family is called a "fool." Those who sell drugs, rape, rob, and kill are seen as "getting over." That is "getting over" -- on "the man" who is "holding us all down." This mentality is the product of the welfare state. New Orleans is one of a few cities where welfare has been taken to its full logic.

In New Orleans this culture of entitlement extends far beyond this "underclass." New Orleans police are the lowest paid in America, as part of their job they are expected to contract out to private parties for security services. This naturally leads to all type of corruption which in turn contributes to the public not trusting or respecting the police. When Katrina hit, about 1,000 of New Orleans 1,500 police officers deserted their posts. This single fact, more than any other, has led to the breakdown in law and order, which slowed rescue and relief efforts for two critical days on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

The culture of entitlement and dependency also extends to the political establishment of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. This leads to the mayor pointing his finger at lack of support by state and federal government while his own police dissolve underneath him. Millions of dollars have been sent to New Orleans for decades, but they were siphoned off to various corrupt activities rather than being used to reinforce levies or build up emergency services. This is a state that has never left behind the depression-era populism of Huey Long. Corruption is legion. Most office holders just haven’t been caught yet -- others have been caught but got re-elected anyway.

As New Orleans is physically rebuilt, this political economy of poverty must be demolished. As an example, New Orleans can look to the entrepreneurial cities such as Dallas and Houston, which are taking in tens of thousands of displaced storm victims. Departing their former home to move west, many are saying they will restart their lives in these cities. After the looting and crime, they don’t want anything to do with New Orleans again. The transfer of people away from poverty and corruption and toward entrepreneurship-created-opportunity is one of the few good things to come out of this disaster.

For those who do stay to rebuild, welfare reform and school choice must move to the top of Louisiana’s political agenda. A platoon of federal investigators should reinforce efforts to indict, arrest, and convict politicians and appointed officials for corruption. The city police department must be reformed from top to bottom starting with the termination of those who deserted and following with pay scales commensurate with that of other police departments. The "projects" must be demolished, as they have been in Chicago, Baltimore and many other American cities. Regulations and taxes that strangle small business development must be repealed. The private sector should lead the way in physical reconstruction.

Nothing warps human nature like the belief in "being owed" combined by the feeling, left by paltry welfare payments, that the debt "owed" is never paid. Thousands of welfare recipients are used to having everything given to them -- albeit in insufficient quantity to be satisfying. Thousands have no concept of working for wages, much less building a business. These same thousands rightfully look at the police and politicians as corrupt. In this twisted existence, the idea of initiative and work does not exist. From their distorted view of the world, looting in the midst of disaster and shooting at rescue helicopters makes perfect sense. The Bible tells us that "the wages of sin is death." In New Orleans we are witnessing the wages of socialism.

Andrew Walden is the publisher and editor of Hawaii Free Press, a Big Island-based newspaper. He can be reached via email at mailto:andrewwalden@email.com

HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

[albed]

Nature has spent billions of years increasing the reproductive success of the best suited organisms in a given environment. Hence evolution.




Socialism does the precise opposite. Hence liberals.

[multi]

cut all welfare and cull off all the poor, then what?
they work their way up the social chain till the make your class the bottom of the rung

you think your kind are not expendable to the rich elite also ?

[albed]

Who's "they"?

Chains have links; ladders have rungs. See Analogy.

Intelligent people make sense.

My kind is the rich elite. I've worked hard and honestly and saved a good portion of my earnings despite the government's thievery and I'm much better off than my parents.

I see no benefit in supporting people who don't do the same.

[multi]

you kid yourself..you are nothing to "THEM"
if you dont know who i mean you are even more of a dumbfuck than you make out to be

they are the faceless corporations of military complex and the inheritors of the central banking system and they run everything and i mean fucking everything
deny it all you like..denial and arrogance is about the only emotion you conservative sheep can identify with..

you worked hard and honestly , for fucking what...you gullible shit sucking moron
for what?

i might be nothing pal..but you are no better

let them stop social welfare and lets see how fast fuckers like you get their throats slit in their sleep..better sleep with all your fancy guns and dogs walled up in your prison like walled suburbs...this has been coming for a long time

dont make out like you know shit albed..you dumbfuckingcan't
your nothing but a mindless scum


oh BTW you will always be totaly outclassed by me..you dickhead
no matter how elite you imagine yourself to be in your tiny one track mind

[albed]

Whew! Whatever drugs you're on they're certainly not antipsychotics.

What I've worked hard and honestly for is money. I've bought everything I own with it, including a good deal of corporate stocks that make me even more money.

I know how the world works and my success in it is proof of that.

You live in your own world of psychotic delusions and your failure to improve your life in the real world is due to your own incompetence, not because some nameless entity controls everything.

Think you can get what I've got by slitting my throat? You still don't get it.

[multi]

lol never harmed anyone in my life apart from a few fist fights

i haven't stolen shit from anyone either* not even faceless corporate owned supermarkets
and if i didnt get any money from the government... i doubt any of that would change

i am just not violent...i am more likely to get beat to death by some thug or cop
when shit hits the fan...

its not people like me you have to worry about...

the 'some nameless entity' you speak of is made up of people with names of course
and their greed and manipulation runs the way world works and your percieved success in it is proof of how much sucked in individual automatons like yourself really are..

your status symbols mean nothing to someone who has nothing..you may well be proud to part of this fucking bullshit system
needless to say ,you are the deluded one..

this honest corporate stock and corrupt dickhead govenments that have sold out every facet of the small guy's ability to earn a day to day wage ,while the corporate vultures piss over everything and suck up everything..you and the mindless investors that prop up these giants to ruin society and the environment in ways we cant yet imagine..

big changes to the economy on the way ..i hope you are one of the first to lose your 'honest' payola..

anyway..oneday the balancing act will fail...and all the black economy will have to be brought into full public view


*p2p excluded

[malvachat]

I take it you two chaps disagree with each other then.

I thought the artical was quite interesting.
I don't think cutting all welfare is the way to go.
The dependency on the state attitude needs to be looked at.
We have the same problem over here.
We're importing workers to pay the taxs to keep the desponds.

[JackSpratts]

real socialism exists purely for the benefit of corporate global giants. it's the little guys supporting the big ones - by law, and not the other way around, and really when has it ever been different? the stuff in walden's feverish diatribe is a diversion, promulgated simply to distract the simple minded. bread and circuses from the conservative think tank set to thier legions of half baked fanatics.

- js.

[floydian slip]

Originally Posted by albed

Whew! Whatever drugs you're on they're certainly not antipsychotics.

What I've worked hard and honestly for is money. I've bought everything I own with it, including a good deal of corporate stocks that make me even more money.

I know how the world works and my success in it is proof of that.

But are you happy? You seem a bit angry to me at times.

Anyway... back to the main story here. If you think that coruruption and demographics are different in any other big city in America then it time to open your eyes. Disasters just put it in the news. If the welfare system goes down, there will be mass looting and rioting all over the country.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

[Bright Eyes]

I seldom post anything, but I will venture in a little with this one. What I have to say may not be exactly centered on what has been said above, but it has got me to thinking.

As a one time serving law enforcement officer now on a disability pension because of my former work, I have some experience with both sides of the fence when it comes to tax-funded relief.

Living on the public purse is no fun, as I have no resources left to me other than what I bought when I was earning money; as such, I am better off than many others, but as the things I own wear out I have found it is becoming increasingly difficult to replace them. The only way I survive at present is by sharing costs with another, even to this modest ISP connection.

Obviously I support the idea of public welfare now, but I did the same when I was working and paying taxes. I used to argue with people about the need to not cheat on taxes and to help those who are in need. While I personally can be motivated to do so out of compassion for those who struggle, there is another reason which I think should play a part in the thinking of those who resent paying to support those who do not work: think about what sort of society we would live in without tax-funded financial support for the poor.

The reality is that the destitute will not roll over and die because they are not wanted, nor will they go away; instead, they must be dealt with. The poor are obliged to resort to other means to stay alive if there is not a government hand out. Add to that the presence of children that need feeding, and the need becomes that much more urgent. I believe that the correlation between poverty and crime has been well demonstrated over the years. It is easy to blame the poor for being lazy and not wanting to work, but this too simplistic to be even close to explaining the reality of the poor.

All our developed nations used to have barbaric policies towards the poor, centered on the notion that the poor were that way because of their own failure to work. The poor were regarded by the prosperous as being violent and diseased and deserving of no compassion and all punishment for being what they were. For example, Britain used to deport men to years of slave labor in Australia for stealing a loaf of bread; yet why was the bread stolen? Often, to feed starving children.

Many advocate an attitude of punishing the poor for being poor. This is reflective of a unreal expectation of what life is really like for some people; yet not every person is able to perform as well as those who are able to work hard and advance in life; and unpalatable fact, but true nonetheless.

I fully understand that those who do work can resent giving hard earned money to others who will not use it wisely. But we live in an imperfect world, and there are no good solutions to this, only worse ones. It is unlikely, however, that if welfare were cut or even erradicated, that it would result in less taxation; in the long run they never cut taxes, they just spend it on other things, so any anticipated benefit personally would almost certainly be left unfulfilled.

European countries generally have better welfare programs than the United States, and the US has better welfare programs than many South American countries. In such countries, the wealthy and the middle class often must live in wealthy ghettos, to isolate themselves from the desperate poor. Is that what we want in our nations? It seems to me that there is real cause and effect here: strangle the poor, and destroy one's own quality of life.

While many of the poor do not use their money wisely, and a few do not want to work, not all of the poor fit these descriptions; indeed, I suspect that most do not. To classify the poor as being such is, I think, a case of woolly thinking.

I have no favor towards socialism, as it is anti-God (as a Christian, this is repugnant to me), but I also have no liking for capitalism, which I find to be equally anti-God. But I do favour mercy towards those who need help, and I don't find blaming the victims to be particularly helpful.

I suppose there will be those who don't agree with me about this, but that's alright; it's not as if it matters. Have a good day.

[Nicobie]

If the poor (ones unable to support themselves) weren't allowed to make babies, the problem would would take care of itself PDQ.

Where do u think all this global warming gets it's heat from?

We/You know it comes from too many fookin' people.

Something needs to be done. We are fucking with Mother Nature big time. Survival of the fittest will kick in sooner or later. The longer we wait to make corrections... the bigger the splat we'll make as what civilization we now have takes a dump.

I say Norplant. If u say different, I say u's a stupid dillweed who's head is in the sand and gives not a shit about your grandkids/grandkids future.

[multi]

what about the american dream ?
there must be quite a few 'rich' guys that claim to be from poor families , started off with nothing..etc

[albed]

I can't help noticing it's almost always the people with no money, usually college students and that sort, who declare that we have to give our money to other people.


Silly person talks about "the poor" as if they're some separate species living a mysterious existance that we can't understand. They're just regular people and I understand them well enough from my own experience. The family of a childhood friend living 4 houses down the street was scamming welfare and lived better than mine did. The father put a bed in a shed 10 feet from their trailer and the now "fatherless family" was then elegible for welfare benefits. With 6 german shepards living inside the trailer and barking like hell as well as the chain smoking, toothless mother and 3 kids I've little doubt he slept there too. The daughter, as usual, got pregnant at 16 and started her own career as a welfare recepient. None of them were any less capable of working than the average non-welfare recepient, they just adopted a tradition of welfare dependancy and kept it.

think about what sort of society we would live in without tax-funded financial support for the poor.

You don't have to think about it, you can read about it from a subject called history. Tax funded welfare is only about 70 years old in the US and society before then was just fine.

Many advocate an attitude of punishing the poor for being poor.

Give some examples of this. Or your source; far up your ass no doubt. Incredible even you can post something so stupid.

the wealthy and the middle class often must live in wealthy ghettos, to isolate themselves from the desperate poor. Is that what we want in our nations? It seems to me that there is real cause and effect here: strangle the poor, and destroy one's own quality of life.

LMAO. You actually think getting rid of the poor destroys quality of life? Why aren't the middle class and wealthy moving into inner city ghettos then? Can't you understand how ridiculous that statement is?


Some points of gross ignorance:
Socialism has nothing to do with religion. http://www.answers.com/socialism&r=67
Capitalism has nothing to do with religion. http://www.answers.com/capitalism&r=67


I hear often enough that more than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day; a few dollars a day probably includes half of humanity. There's nothing tragic about being poor and there's no reason to artificially raise their standard of living to match wealthier people when they can't do it themselves. Remove financial incentives to have children and maybe give free birth control and their numbers will stop swelling, but that will take away political power from the slimeball liberals so don't expect that to happen any time soon.

[Nicobie]

'specially for U

Originally Posted by Nicobie

If the poor (ones unable to support themselves) weren't allowed to make babies, the problem would would take care of itself PDQ.

Where do u think all this global warming gets it's heat from?

We/You know it comes from too many fookin' people.

Something needs to be done. We are fucking with Mother Nature big time. Survival of the fittest will kick in sooner or later. The longer we wait to make corrections... the bigger the splat we'll make as what civilization we now have takes a dump.

I say Norplant. If u say different, I say u's a stupid dillweed who's head is in the sand and gives not a shit about your grandkids/grandkids future.

[chefws]

Gangs, drug dealers may re-emerge, authorities say

06:21 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 27, 2005


Stacey Plaisance / Associated Press



BATON ROUGE -- Hurricane Katrina did what authorities couldn't: put a stop to illegal drug operations in New Orleans and pushed its ruthlessly violent gangs from the streets of the city's poorest neighborhoods.


The exact landing point of gang members isn't known for sure, though federal authorities suspect popular evacuation sites like Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Houston. But no matter where they land, the thugs from the Big Easy have been put at a distinct disadvantage, authorities say.


"They are crippled," said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. "They don't have the buddies, don't have the turf they're familiar with."


Gangs were largely responsible for the city's pre-Katrina murder rate of nearly 10 times the national average. Though gang members only made up a few hundred of the city's core population of 450,000, they terrorized highly concentrated areas of poor neighborhoods, often shooting at will during drug disputes and intimidating potential witnesses into silence -- or killing them.


"They prey on the paupers," Letten said. "We know who some of them are and where some of them are, but we still have to get a better grip on it."


Though there's no proof New Orleans gangs have regrouped in other cities, authorities agree the emptying of New Orleans presents a unique opportunity for law enforcement. With the city's criminal element dispersed, gang activity is easier to spot.


For example, when a Gretna, La., man was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baton Rouge, where the population since Katrina has reportedly doubled to at least 800,000, law enforcement swarmed.


"Gangs are a top priority for us because they can have a big, negative impact on a community," said Mark Chait, special agent in charge of the New Orleans office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


The ATF is paying close attention in Louisiana and Texas to cities along Interstate 10 west of New Orleans, the highway long used as a major drug corridor. And police are looking for spray-painted insignia and other signs of gang activity, even checking suspects for gang-affiliated tattoos.


Unlike larger, nationally organized gangs, those from New Orleans are small, elusive and harder to track. Sometimes consisting of as few as two or three members, they're known to use children to push their drugs, Letten said.


"We've seen them shoot each other over a parking spot, a word, a hand gesture," Letten said. "They have no regard for human life."


Because of the population boom in Baton Rouge, the anti-gang task force once based in New Orleans has moved here, along with one of the ATF's Violent Crimes Impact Teams -- the 21st of as many in the nation. The VCIT program was launched roughly a year ago in more than a dozen of the country's most violent cities, including New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.


Besides Baton Rouge, the city of Lafayette, about 135 miles northwest of New Orleans, has been a concern for violent crime, said Chait, whose field division covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.


Lafayette officials say the city has had no armed robberies, car jackings, drive-by shootings or other crimes associated with gang activity since refugees began evacuating there.


"If we saw any sign, whether a tattoo, colors, we would address it," said Lt. Craig Stansbury, spokesman for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office.


After Katrina, Lafayette kept security tight at its Cajundome, the sports arena that was serving as a shelter to hundreds of evacuees before Rita forced them to relocate.


Because Houston and San Antonio took in many New Orleanians, authorities have also been paying attention to criminal activity in those cities.


(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[multi]

every time i see the title of this thread in the forum home..

New Orleans: The Wages Of S....

i think it is:
New Orleans: The Wages Of Sin is Death

[albed]

A few lines up from the bottom of the original article:

The Bible tells us that "the wages of sin is death." In New Orleans we are witnessing the wages of socialism.

[multi]

lol..maybe that has something to do with it....

[Mazer]

As ugly as some of the words in this thread have been I've read a few good points in it. I particularly agree with Bright Eyes, and while my logical side agrees with albed I simply don't identify with his cold attitude toward his fellow human beings.

Simply put, the goal of welfare should be to make it so people don't need it. If it works then eventually it makes itself obsolete. Some welfare systems are successful by this metric, while others are dismal failures. If you wanna blame poor people for not using welfare properly then go ahead, you might be right. We've all heard the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach that man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Perhaps that hungry man is too lazy to learn to fish on his own, but then again it's just as likely that the fisherman is too lazy to teach him. It's so much easier to just pull a fish out of the water and hand it over, or worse yet, enact a law that requires every fisherman to give a percentage of his catch to the poor. But how does that solve the real problem?

When a welfare system fails then all parties involved share the blame, both the poor who depend on it and the rich who fund it. But when it comes to fixing a broken system the only people who really have the necessary tools are the rich. There's gotta be a better way than just doling out money and hoping people don't waste it, it's a problem that requires a lot more creativity than that. Make 'em feel guilty for being lazy? Nope, that ain't gonna do it. Threaten to take away their welfare checks? Wrong agian. Rub your own success and wealth in their faces? That'll just piss 'em off, and it won't accomplish a damn thing.

The problem with the vaunted 'American Dream' isn't that it is fantasy but that so many people believe it to be so. Once upon a time people set goals for themselves, they even set deadlines for accomplishing them, and for the most part they managed to make their dreams come true. But that kind of incentive is an intangible thing, so some people claim that it isn't real or even desirable. That's where the system breaks down because welfare depends on intangibles to provide incentive to its recipients. Without the American Dream of being self-relient, productive members of society the welfare check is nothing more than a crutch to most people. At some point in every person's life, they need to learn to hope and to try for better things before they can actually attain them. But when you give people free money you take away their incentive to try, and then you rob them of their hope, and then you're nothing but a thief.

As in all things, throwing money (your own or the taxpayers') at the problem invariably makes it worse.