"Certainly, no one thinks that people who lose their homes during a hurricane should shoulder the burden of rebuilding themselves, or that people should be punished for not preparing better."
This is unbelievable...of course you should shoulder the burden of rebuilding yourself. If you don't have the means, you can purchase insurance. If it is too expensive to own a house with the proper insurance, you can rent. If you lose your job because of a storm, you can move to where the jobs are....people have done this for hundreds of years in this country and now all of a sudden this option is off the table? My father worked in oil and this meant that every couple of years we moved. We went where the jobs were and made the best of it. I didn't always want to move schools again, or learn a new culture and language, but we did it anyway. Looking back, the experience was invaluable because it allowed me to see how life really is in third world countries and gain an appreciation for what we have here. I wish people would look at their relocations as an opportunity instead of a burden.
AMEN.
As a fellow nomad, I agree wholeheartedly.
It sort of reminds me of the rather insensitive, but extremely accurate joke Sam Kinison used to make about all the poor, starving Ethiopians. "Maybe you wouldn't be starving and dying if you'd just MOVE TO WHERE THE FREAKING FOOD IS!!!"
If you don't have enough income where you are, and you don't see a way of getting any more (legally), then go someplace where the ground is more fertile. It's common sense. (Something sorely lacking in our modern world.)