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Posted on 05/24/2006 11:49:31 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
You may never have heard of Camille Howard of New Orleans's Jefferson Parish. But if you pay taxes, you've helped her repair her home with federal flood insurance (NFIP) -- no less than four times since she has owned it, and seven times before that. And therein lies a tale of policy mistakes and taxpayer liability. The federal government says some 120,000 properties nationwide have received "multiple" taxpayer subsidized flood insurance payments -- at a cost of $7.25 billion. An astounding 26,000 of those have received four or more flood payments. One property in Houston flooded 16 times and sucked up $807,000 in repairs -- seven times its market value. The owner keeps rebuilding, mother nature keeps tearing it down, and hapless taxpayers keep footing the bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Where's a candidate that promises to take a meat-axe to the federal apparatus?
Hopelessly inept, dangerously corrupt, his own party working actively against him. Yet, he promised more "bread and circus'" than his opponent and won re-election.
At a cost of millions upon millions of dollars, the government cut out a huge gorge in Grundy Va to prevent flooding. It would have been far cheaper to have paid everyone to move out - or rebuilt the town somewhere else - like on top of one of the nearby mountains that have been flattened out by strip mining.
Never happen, as long as the tax takers out number the tax payers.
Oh I don't know. We could probably get away with s-canning federal flood relief for the Jefferson Parish's of the nation. But probably not the high-priced hoods along the nation's coastlines.
There already have been some who even got elected. Unfortunately, most of them changed their minds after getting in office.
More on the Grundy, VA flood control (government boondoggle) project.
The entire local population could have been relocated to Hawaii for less than the $100 million this cost.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/identity/grundy.htm
Wrong, unfortuantely they knew BEFORE taking office
Until we stop the money, this graft will never cease. We have to stop the money.
This is news? ;)
As I have posted before - I favor the "one bite rule".
Many years ago, my son brought home 2 cute little black puppies, and he begged to be able to keep them.
They grew up into two beautiful black labs. The farmer next door came over and told my son that he had better start working those dogs, or they would work themselves. Several months later, the farmer saw the two dogs take down a Polled Herford Calf - worth about $1,000.
My insurance agent told me that they have a "one bite rule" - they would pay the farmer for this calf, but any future calves would be on me.
Why can't the Feds have a "one bite rule" for disaster relief? Pay one time to rebuild property, but any future disasters are the responsibility of the owner. And if the owner sells the property, the restriction is passed on.
To get a feel for the efficiency of government, this is a good place to begin: "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand." -Milton Friedman
He knew whereof he spoke.
And wasn't it President Reagan who said, "Government is like a baby: an enormous alimentary canal with a vast appetite at one end, and a huge load of crap at the other."
Something like that.
Anyway, you'll have gray hair - not to mention an ulcer - waiting for government to make any sense at all.
Ah, the American dream. If only I were illegal, owned Camille's house, was on welfare, and made my fortune in drugs.
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