So the Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking for "all citizens to get involved" with the response to hurricane Harvey in Texas, by donating or by helping with search and rescue efforts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/fema-flooding-harvey-help.html
That's fine. I don't mind donating or getting involved with search and rescue efforts. What I do mind is we've been paying FEMA 13 billion dollars a year for a long time. We've not had a major disaster like this in years, and this is literally their only job. This is the only thing we need them for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Emergency_Management_Agency#Budget
30,000 people need temporary housing as they evacuate. My heart goes out to them. But for a portion of that $13 Billion we could literally build an entire city across the country with housing for triple that number, fly 30,000 people there on private jets, and still have enough left over to handle another disaster tomorrow.
It just feels really condescending when someone I've been paying for years asks me to "get involved" as if my contributions over the years never happened. Maybe for $13 Billion dollars you could at least ask us to "get more involved"?
I get annoyed by waste, fraud, and abuse by the federal government every day. But I dunno, something about this morning's headline just really rubbed be the wrong way. Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Anyway.... /rant.