NO! It comes down to people not being prepared. They knew well in advance that the storm was comming. They're complaining about long lines for water and ice, yet they had plenty of time to fill their freezers up with ice and stockpile drinking water beforehand.
There's no excuse for not having water and a few days of food on hand after all the storms that have cause problems there.
People want to complain about long gas lines. There's long gas lines for the same reason there were long gas lines when Carter capped gas prices.
Get rid of the price gouging laws on gasoline, and people will find a way to get gas to the stations. However, it costs a lot of money to move large quantities of gasoline into position after a major storm, and they can't pass those costs onto consumers.
There's no reason for them to move more tanker trucks into position to get gas there quickly. The profit isn't there to justify the expense.
The government should not step in and provide people with things they should have stockpiled on their own except for when the need is critical. The government has limited supplies, and the shouldn't have to give them to people who were too lazy to get what they needed themselves.
This isn't a failure of the government. It's the people becoming to reliant on the government to help themselves.
I'm sick of my tax dollars being spent to give lazy, stupid people bags of ice.
My parents live in Florida. My father is there recovering from open heart surgery. Their neighbors helped my mother put up the storm shutters. Members of their church showed up to clear away debris and take down the storm shutters.
My parents have plenty of food and water stored up. They also have a generator to keep the refridgerator running, and keep the cell phone charged. They have a decent stockpile of gas for the generator and they can siphon more from the car if they need it.
I agree we should demand accountability for our tax dollars. We should demand that people quit relying on FEMA to come in and give them stuff after a hurricane.
What about the poor? Well my parents happen to be white, but they beling to a relatively poor, predominantly black church. Those were the people who came to help because my father was off his feet recovering from surgery.
The cost of putting in an extra underground tank isn't worth it if you must charge the same price ... hmmmm, you might be on to something here. Maybe a compromise -- companies can charge up to 20% more during a storm. It gives an incentive to solve the problem, and holds back the worst of criminal type behavior (lots of generators stolen from people's homes during storms - black market prices for them are high...supplies low)