Katrina Four Years Later: Iraq Being Rebuilt Faster
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Four years after Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,800 people and left thousands homeless along the Gulf Coast, many residents, especially those displaced in New Orleans, still cannot come home, because there are no homes to come back to.
From the beginning, the union movement has sought to aid in rebuilding the communities, with the AFL-CIO’s Gulf Coast Revitalization Program early on committing to spending $1 billion to produce new housing, fund economic development projects and create thousands of new jobs. Already more than 400 workers have been trained to fill those jobs.
But outreach efforts continue to be stymied. Robert “Tiger” Hammond, president of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, tells Press Associates that local and state officials keep putting up “roadblock after roadblock after roadblock” to building housing for displaced residents.
BushWatch: First MBA President Leaves Behind an Economic Wasteland
Eight years of President Bush’s economic tax cuts for the rich and job-killing actions have devastated working families. Just look at the smoking crater of the economy he’s leaving behind—7.2 percent unemployment, 2.6 million jobs lost last year alone, home foreclosures up by 81 percent in 2008, a plunging stock market, failing banks. Heck of a job, Bushie!
Our BushWatch retrospective today looks at a few of his more notable moves—mostly aimed at helping the wealthy and corporate world, with little regard for the rest us. For a complete listing, go to BushWatch and click on “Jobs and the Economy” and “Tax Cuts for the Wealthy” in the top box.
In early 2001, the man who molded Bush’s economic brain set the tone for the next eight years. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said U.S. corporations should pay no income tax. Further, he said the capital gains taxes for businesses should be abolished and “able-bodied” adults should take care of their own retirement needs and medical expenses.
