No largesse here
I've constantly pushed back on the idiot 47% Moochers Takers Voting Largesse From The Public Treasury shit, the idea that people vote mainly to get subsidies from government. Life doesn't work that way. People don't want gifts and freedom. People want jobs and security. When jobs increase, voters are happy. When jobs decrease, unhappy. An unexpected pushback in a normally Randian website reminded me of the 47 shit. The columnist is reaching a poor conclusion but still pushing in the right direction.

Another indication that people aren't looking for subsidies:

The local branch of FEMA is trying to get reports of damage from last month's windstorm, so it can file more effectively for government subsidies. A few pennies may accidentally reach local people, though that's highly unlikely based on past performance. Mostly a few superrich supersatanic NGOs like Red Cross will get richer.

For the first two weeks the county says they were in the life safety mode and trying to do what they could to assist citizens. Now they are asking people to report wind damage to find out if the county qualifies for federal aid. Emergency Management needs to have reports of any damages to homes or businesses to know if Spokane county has enough damage to meet the minimum qualification of twenty-five homes or businesses affected, in order to be eligible for FEMA assistance. "I have no doubt that we have more than 25 affected," says Gerry Bozarth, Disaster Recovery Manager, "because I have a list of seventeen right here so far and we really haven't gotten the word out yet."

They've received SEVENTEEN reports. Think about that.

Let's think numerically. In the course of my daily walks I cover about 40 blocks. My path varies, but stays within these 40 blocks. Each block has about 24 houses along both sides. So I see the same 1000 houses each week, and unconsciously keep track of those houses by natural territoriality. I spot deltas, know which houses are normally declining and which are suddenly damaged.

This part of town was NOT badly hit by last month's wind. Only 3 trees dropped, and only one house slightly damaged by a tree. (Compared to 30 trees down and 8 squashed houses in the July 2014 wind.)

Even so, about 5 houses on each block have lost shingles, ranging from a few to nearly the whole roof. Correlation seems to be: any roof panel that faced south or west, and was more than 10 years old, lost shingles. New-looking shingles held up much better.

5 on each block x 40 blocks = 200 roofs that will need some shingles. Already over the FEMA threshold just within my little ambit. If we blindly apply this proportion across the rest of town, we get 20,000 households that "should be" clamoring for subsidies. But we have SEVENTEEN, not 20k.

Labels: defensible spaces

  ¶ 3:36 PM