When he went on about that plan, you heard one person being named over and over again in many different ways, and that was Mr. Businessman. Bush talked about him first and essentially said that he was the one that could bring New Orleans back again. He said that only the resumption of business could bring it back all the way, everything from "Minority Owned" and small businesses, to the oil and petrochemical giants that do business there. Bush was seriously excited that Mr. Businessman was already back starting to ply his trade there again, he spoke of the opened ports and of how the Downtown and French Quarter sections of the city are scheduled to be back in business in a couple of weeks, he said that this was the beginning of the renaissance of the area. Of Course, he wants to help his good friend Mr. Businessman get back there again, so he said that he would give him all sorts of tax breaks and sweetheart deals so that he could build his shit everywhere. According to Bush, this has to happen first or else the whole thing is not going to work. Washington has tried to jump start this as fast as they can in New Orleans by doing shit like awarding the contracts for the various cleanup jobs to whoever they choose, with no bidding going on, no competition at all. They say that they have to do it this way because they just have to get this shit started right away, and a bidding process would just slow everything down so this was done for the sake of speed. Never mind how funny this sounds from a government that was slower than molasses in the summertime in terms of how it reacted to this whole disaster originally. When it came to helping the people evacuate safely and ensuring that they could be as reasonably safe as they could be in that situation, Washington was slower than an old tortoise, but when it came to awarding the money to Mr. Businessman, they were swifter than a young hare. Of course, it is only old cronies that have been getting these contracts, other companies have not even been given a chance at them, and Washington defends that practice too, saying they had no time to decide anything and just had to go with the people they already knew. Whether or not this practice is continued as the city rebuilds, no one knows, but it is a pretty good bet that it will in one way or another. This same attitude seems to extend to the businesses that are looked on as being the first ones to get back in business in New Orleans, the shit in the French Quarter and the other tiurist spots in town. Bush seems to be very anxious to get them back going again so that they can take advantage of people's desires to come to New Orleans and see it for themselves and gawk and take pictures and movies and most importantly spend money, lots of it too. Mr. Businessman seems to be ready to make New Orleans the tourist city of the dead, come here and see where all those people died so tragically and shake your head and cluck your tongue and take some pictures and then go to some bar and get wasted and then go fuck your chick in the hotel room. That seems to be the first part of the plan that Bush has come up with, take advantage of the disaster and invite tourists to come and see it and that's how we start the recovery rolling. Macabre as it sounds, that is exactly what they are doing, and Bush had a few more spooky things to say as he discussed his plan further.
He started to talk about the evacuees and addressed them directly. He did go on and say that the poverty level in New Orleans was astronomical and attributed that to racism and prejudice and the like, he said that this had to stop, because that perpetuated the cycle of poverty that led to the disaster. He said that Mr. Businessman was there to help, as he would have jobs opening up for the residents to get and be able to earn a paycheck and he spoke of getting them places to live too. What he proposed was that Washington would build the poor homes on Federal land, and the poor would in turn take a mortgage on the place or whatever, and that would break the cycle of poverty by encouraging home ownership instead of renting, which is what living in public housing is, so that's what Bush meant by that. He says that owning the home will help get the people ou tof poverty, but the question with that was just how are these poor people that lost what little they had in the hurricane supposed to be able to own anything, and Bush had the answer for that one. He said that there would be Federal programs to assist the people with this shit, vouchers and such and that was how this would go. There were a couple of problems with all this however. The jobs that are going to be available in New orleans are going to mainly be in the construction and related fields, and those are the fields that Washington has already awarded the no bid contracts to and those guys are not abou tto hire unskilled and untested workers, which is what most of the poor are, they have never worked at much of any job before, and certainly do not know anything about shit like using and driving heavy machinery and cement work and building massive structures and such, and they'd have to be extensively trained to do that. This would slow everything down far more than open bidding on contracts would, so not to many evacuees could count on getting a job in that field. They'd be stuck doing shit like working at Burger King or as dishwashers in those restaurants that are going to reopen soon, essentially the same shitty jobs that they could get before. None of that ever lifted too many people out of poverty, and it wil be even worse now, as the pay scale will be even less and the jobs will be shittier than ever in terms of duties. That's about all that the evacuees can count on in terms of jobs when they go back, and that won't change things much for them at all. That housing offer that Bush made is not as nice as it seems either. He said that he wanted to build them homes on Federal land, and that is basically the same thing as an Indian reservation is, homes built on Federal land for the poor. Bush just wants to put the blacks of Louisiana and Mississippi on reservations just as Washington did to the native Americans because it is far easier to keep and eye on them and control them that way. Ask a Native American about all the opportunities that they get living on Washington's Dime on Federal land and the answer will be quick, as there are virtually zero. It Is just a ghetto/prison that Washington made for them, and that shit that Bush proposed for the poor in New Orleans is exactly the same thing and it no chance to break any cycle of poverty, just to perpetuate ii ever further. That seemed to be a main component of the Bush plan and when you heard that combined with his thoughts that the military needs to be given more powers domestically in times of emergencies, you heard a plan that has zero to do with the people affected by the hurricane so badly, and everything to do with Mr. Businessman.
For it is no secret that Mr. Businessman sees this as a chance to start over in New Orleans and to rebuild it his way, and his way has no room for the poor in it. As in many cities, the real estate that the poor lived in over in New Orleans has become prized real estate, with developers dying to get a chance to build and such there. However, it is hard to just go and kick all the poor people out in one swoop because that is so fucking obvious that you won't be able to get away with it. So, you do things like what Mayor Daley is doing here in Chicago, you just let the public housing projects fall apart around everyone's ears, and you do nothing about it and eventually the conditions become so abominable that the people just leave there and go elsewhere, preferably another city or state even. Then you go and condemn the mostly empty projects and let Mr. Businessman do what he wants to do with the land, and that means Yuppies and the rich, no more poor people. However, that takes years, as is the case in Chicago, where this process has been going on for fifteen years or so now, and is still not completed. Mr. Businessman is shitting bricks here because he sees all that valuable land still being occupied by poor people that don't give him any money at all and he just wants to go in there and build Yuppie places that will make him rich. In New Orleans, Mr. Businessman got the wish of his life, as an entire city of poor people was wiped out in a matter of hours, and the homes of the poor destroyed en masse. Now all that prime New Orleans real estate is sitting under water, just waiting to be reclaimed, and Mr. Businessman knows who is going to reclaim it and it won't be the poor. Many of the peolple that have not left the area live in suburbs of New Orleans, the people that were let in to see their places a few days ago and the like. Many of the are rich, and they are sticking it out for a reason. They want to have a voice in the rebuilding of the city, and that voice means no more poor and welfare shit. They are going to tell Mr. Businessman and Washington that they'll stay if they get that, and they won't be told no. Everyone knows that a great deal of the poor are never coming back there, they can't, or they don't want to ever see New Orleans again. That's why Washington won't have to build many of those reservation homes that Bush proposed, because there just won't be that many coming back. However, there will be enough of them to fill those shitty jobs at the Burger King and the restaurants that will be available to them. That will ensure that they never really get out of poverty and that they never go back on welfare either, and that's what Washington and Mr. Businessman want. This is how many want New Orleans rebuilt and what the Bush plan fits right into. New Orleans will be rebuilt like Bush says it will, but it will not be the same city either, like he says. It will be a playground for the rich and powerful, and there will be no place for the poor except in the dishwashing rooms and janitors closets of the businesses. That is what the Bush plan is all about, rebuilding New Orleans Mr. Businessman's way. The poor are just going to have to be content with being shuttled onto reservations like the Indians were and left out of everything. That's The New Orleans that Bush says no one can imagine America without, not the one that existed before the hurricane. That's the New Orleans that Bush wants to have rise from the waters, not the welfare state from before. His plan is all about that, and it is a plan that shortchanges the poor as much as they have ever been shortchanged before, for they are not included in it, despite what Bush says otherwise. That's why so many won't go back, they have had enough hassles to last them seventeen lifetimes and they don't want any more. They knew that they were marked a long time ago, when the land they sat on became so valuable. What would have happened in slow motion like what is happening in Chicago happened in just a few days there, however, the result will be the same. The poor will be swept further under the rug and the wealthy will take what they have from them so that they may increase their own wealth. Those that survived the storm probably will not survive Bush's plan, as only Mr. Businessman and Co. are going to be able to survive that and that was part of the plan a long fucking time ago, Hurricane Katrina just put it on the ultra fast track and Mr. Businessman probably looks at it as the greatest blessing that he had received in years for now his plan is well in motion.