A Stitch in Haste

I was critical of both the $2,000 FEMA debit card program in response to Hurricane Katrina (apparently so was FEMA — the program was canceled after only three days) and the ludicrous granting of $250,000 credit lines to 250,000 bureaucrats on their "official business" credit cards.

Well, score two for me:

On the federal government's long shopping list for hurricane relief: $223,000 for flip-flops, $153,600 worth of underwear, three golf carts rented for $1,500 a month and flyswatters for $5.28. Oh, and four packs of playing cards bought by the United States Forest Service, for which records list no price but do offer an explanation: "to help morale during Hurricane Rita."
...
Did the Environmental Protection Agency really have to buy CamelBak backpack-style water containers for $2,024 (quantity not given), or could their workers have used ordinary plastic bottles? Why did the Forest Service spend $547 on a "horse trough"? (An agency spokesman could not say, but a salesman at Port Allen Hardware in Louisiana says it was used as a "giant ice chest" to keep drinks cool.) What about $89.37 for treatment of a toothache for an emergency worker at a mobilization center in Marietta, Ga.?

Expect a GAO report, followed by a lot of political huff-and-puff, followed by a Congressional investigation, followed by more huff-and-puff, followed by...absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, Snopes has a roundup of abuse of the $2,000 debit card program:

One of the first news outlets to report on abuse of these financial instruments was the New York Daily News, who [sic] broke the story that two of the cards had been used in Atlanta to buy $800 Louis Vuitton handbags. (That claim has been substantiated by MSNBC's Abrams Report; the store confirmed to them that it happened.) Others have been spotted in adult entertainment venues — according to a report by KPRC Channel 2 in Houston, the wife of a strip club manager in that city said her husband has seen patrons from Louisiana offering FEMA and Red Cross debit cards. A manager at Caligula XXI Gentlemen's Club told KPRC that he has seen at least one card used at his club. "Abby," a bartender at Baby Dolls, another strip club in Houston, said customers are paying for drinks with what may be FEMA or Red Cross debit cards.

As I blogged previously, unless all the ATM machines in New Orleans (not to mention Houston) were flooded, the problem in the Katrina crisis was not a shortage of money, but a shortage of materials. The government should have focused on getting stuff to New Orleans, not dollars.

On the other hand, given the current political histrionics over the (not quite yet) avian flu (maybe someday) crisis, perhaps we're lucky the federal government didn't seize Wal-Mart and Home Depot outright.

More thoughts at Catallarchy.