$700 Million in Katrina Relief Missing, Report Shows
Source: ABC News
A new inspector general's report found that about $700 million awarded to help Hurricane Katrina victims fortify their homes from future floods is unaccounted for, which Congressional leaders say is a troubling sign of the need for tighter controls as Superstorm Sandy rebuilding efforts intensify this spring.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is pressing the state of Louisiana to recover the money given to homeowners to elevate their houses. But David Montoya, the inspector general of the agency, told ABC News that the likelihood of reclaiming the money was "slim, at best."
"We have $700 million that we can't account for and that certainly did not go to elevating homes and preventing future damage from storms," Montoya said in an interview in his office in Washington.
"This is money we can't afford to lose. This is money that we don't get back and this is money that we can't put toward other disaster victims."
Read more: http://gma.yahoo.com/700-million-katrina-relief-missing-report-shows-190009733.html
Working with Louisiana's Road Home Program was one of the most discouraging experiences I ever had. It was obvious to anyone that interacted with it that it was nothing but an excuse for graft and incompetence.
Proletariatprincess
(718 posts)We are beginning to get as immune to the outrages of corruption in government as any 3rd world failed state. The people be damned....there is money to be made.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)The corruption has always been bad in my recollection; maybe not to the current levels of theft, but still suspect in a lot of areas. What I find so disheartening is the brazenness of it all now. There's no shame, or stigma, or loss for people who do get caught; and there's tons of easy to steal cash for those without moral compasses along the way.
These kinds of things should result in serious investigations, prosecutions, confiscations of material goods the perpetrators amass, and JAIL TIME!!!
I hate that my country allows these "people" to get away with this sort of stuff and no one EVER goes to jail anymore for anything outside of murder, rape and drug offenses. I would feel much better about my homeland if the real criminals went to jail and the pot smokers and dime-bag sellers got the slap on the wrist or non-investigations...
trusty elf
(7,350 posts)It's un-fricken-believable to me that there is "slim" likelihood of reclaiming the money. What, so were pallets full of cash left unattended in some warehouse?
Festivito
(13,452 posts)Gee, was Bush president then? Anyone remember? IIRC he had a detailed plan going county by county. (All the counties that voted Republican, and omitting counties that voted Democratic -- oddly enough.)
But, the report comes out years later under a different president. How nice.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Festivito
(13,452 posts).. with every indictment we could aim at him.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)How utterly predictable. The great HBO series Treme captures the essence of NO.
Javaman
(62,442 posts)disaster capitalism.
or more than likely...
disaster graft.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)... on this thing.
Oh, I'm not happy about the money going adrift without doing much to help the people who need it. To put it mildly.
But.
That money still stimulated the economy... especially locally. You can bet that the .01% didn't end up with the lion's share of that. Some contractors skimmed.. hell, they scooped! Some people didn't use the money for what it was intended.
Not the best outcome, certainly, but it's not the disaster that $Billions in missing Benjamins in Iraq was.
Investigate.. throw some people in the slammer... and move on.
Less than a $Billion.
Couch-cushion money compared to the Wall Street $Trillions that now live in offshore tax havens.