The Houston region has over 100,000 residences destroyed or damaged. 3, 4, 500,000 people in need? Virtually homeless? The immediate future nothing more than a huge question mark?
Miami will experience 10 foot storm surges, 159 mile an hour gusts, with steady winds of 129 MPH. Even the left coast of Florida (are they more liberal there) up to Fort Myers will be suffering storm surges, exceedingly high winds, and severe damage. And imagine if Irma pulls a Harvey and sits atop southern Florida, pounding it will 20-40 inches of rain?
If the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are giving us a warning, we can expect most of southern Florida to be devastated for months to come.
On a personal note, it is currently impossible to get the attention of property/casualty adjusters from most major insurance companies. Settlements, negotiations, discussions are dead for now. They don’t have the bodies to pick up the phone knowledgeably and talk. They are all busy with Harvey and by Saturday, Irma. Attorneys cannot complain (much). Life and death issues are far more important than broken legs, ribs, or arms from auto accidents or falls.
In my nape of the forest, (residential SW suburb of Chicago) the muddle class is alive and, well, well. Gardening, landscaping, construction, building upgrades, roofing, storm repair, (yes, we’ve needed that here because our storms have been surprisingly strong of late), you see crews constantly doing work. I estimate that 80% of those crews, especially outdoor construction, involve immigrants, many of whom probably do not have documentation. Young, hardworking, honest, and efficient, they do good work throughout my area, and far beyond.
This is not an attempt to be racist, it is an observation that is proved true each day. At least around here. The same story most likely exists elsewhere. To read stories of crops falling unpicked, of predicted shortages of highly valued, trained workers, I suspect that those 800,000 and their parents make up such an important, treasured, and necessary part of America that their loss will threaten our economy.
Put together the top three paragraphs with the fifth one. It is painfully obvious that construction, rebuilding, removal of damaged parts, basic landscaping and repair will be on the agenda for months. Potentially for a million customers, or more. It is simple math. DACA will be back, either by presidential order, or congressional work. Need will far outweigh silly racist, alt-white, anti-immigration stances being foisted upon this country by the likes of Sessions and ultra conservative racists in congress.
It won’t happen all at once. It takes weeks just to assess what happened. There are still places under water in the Houston region, some two weeks after the storm! But the demand is there, it will grow, and it will become a political storm — demands that undocumented workers be allowed to fix homes, businesses, roads, infrastructure, and more. Because the demand will far outweigh the supply.
The Trump decision on DACA was the move of a village idiot. A petty, senseless, cruel, and shortsighted effort to appease a base of nazis, racists, and anti immigrant assholes. In reality, immigration creates jobs. It creates demand, it creates, hell, it creates creativity. Next time a small business owner bitches about “illegal immigrants” (a term I personally detest), tell them that Trump is pulling 800,000 potential paying customers from their lists of clients. Groceries, furniture stores, car repair centers, basically every service and business entity will suffer because of Sessions’ inherent racism and idiotic ideas.
Demand will cause the reversal of Trump’s decision. But it will take time. And smart legislating and administrative efforts, neither of which is currently in great supply in DC.
As an aside, (and frankly, I almost never wish harm upon anyone not named Rush Limbaugh) I note that several properties of Donald Trump are or will be smack dab in the middle of the muddle created by Irma. Why do I have this urge to smile? Irony? Ore recognition that in Trump’s mindset, he not only has to win, his opponents HAVE TO LOSE! When trump finally tries to have his damaged properties repaired, I strongly recommend that the illegal workers he hires demand and receive cash in advance.