I think that everyone who cares about the evacuees from Katrina has given all they can, with the exception of the very wealthy, who I predict will not respond with the same generosity for Rita. I think the middle class will still give all they can (and are still contributing to Katrina relief) but the numbers seem to be falling off even though the situation is far from stable.
I am personally starting to call this the 'Autumn of the Displaced', as it seems to me that the population of several states has scattered across the country, and more are about to follow. If I get time, I will do an analysis of how many displaced people the rest of the US can actually absorb.
Three other thoughts:
- It sure seems to me that 'God' is trying to tell us that voting for Bush was a bad choice in his eyes (o.k., not really, I'm an atheist, but I'm just waiting for plagues of locusts and a very very severe winter in the Great Plains. However, I may have to rethink my atheism if we get a bloody rain in the Midwest :).
- One general question: how much of a population's production should be dedicated to long term problems? I think at least 1% a year, with a huge initial burst to stockpile goods and empty housing. It just seems like a decent insurance policy to me.(That works out to around $100-150Billion/year, which we could easily afford if we weren't intent on turning all the easily available metals on the planet into weapons of war.) I also include in this such things as global warming mitigation, biodiversity preservation, and space exploration/colonization.
- If you were given $100Billion/year for long term problems, what would YOUR priorities be? Mine would be 1: a tie between global warming mitigation and biodiversity preservation 2: Sustainable energy policies (can you imagine the greenhouse this planet will become if we spend our way through the 21st century by BURNING ALL OUR COAL???!!!) 3: Population stabilization with a goal of population reduction to 1-2 Billion by the end of the 21st, but ensuring that every one of those 1-2 billion have food, shelter, entertainment, and security, in a non-environmentally impactful way.
Each of these goals are easily achievable with an Apollo-level effort. (Obviously stabilization of #1 is only a temporary bandaid, as we will be dealing with the ramifications of the choices we have already made literally a thousand years from now).
What do YOU think?