Disasters, Natural and Economic

I evacuated for Hurricane Irma, along with hundreds of thousands of others, all making their way north out of Florida, at the same time.  To say the going was slow is an understatement.  To pass time I listened to songs, audio books and the radio. 

I rejoiced when I hit the Florida-Georgia border, but the traffic in Georgia was still terrible, the roads full of Florida evacuees.  The radio changed in Georgia.  Florida stations were broadcasting the storm, George was all about sports.  I don’t care about sports.  As I was moving at 7 mph on the Atlanta by-pass I found a station I thought was talking about the storm, but it wasn’t. 

A man with a beautiful radio voice was telling a story.  He said people think the Depression was caused by a run on banks, but it wasn’t.  A run on banks is a symptom, never a cause.  Banks can’t run, it’s not something they do.

The narrator explained the weather in the Mississippi valley is, and has always been, prone to disaster.  Until Europeans, this area was largely unpopulated, due to weather. 

In 1926 there was a terrible Hurricane in Florida.  The result was massive property damage, a food shortage, hundreds of deaths, tens of thousands homeless. 

In 1927 the Mississippi River flooded, 145 levees broke.  The property damage was one billion dollars which was one third of the federal budget.  Hundreds of people died.  Hundreds of thousands lost their homes.

In 1928 Florida experienced another Hurricane.  2,500 people died.  Tens of thousands were displaced.

The United States prospered during the 1920s.  One reason was it was supplying Europe with goods, particularly food, since World War I, when Europe suffered incredible damage.  Under the Federal Farm Act of 1916 the US Government guaranteed it would buy all the crops farmers produced.  Farmers got very smart and produced more crops than had ever been produced on the same land.  By 1929 Europe recovered and was feeding itself.  At the same time, US farmers produced more crops than the government could afford to buy.  Without the government buying crops the farmers were destitute.  They could not make their mortgage payments.  Farm workers no longer had jobs.  As with the natural disasters thousands were displaced.  My great-grandparents, and many of their relatives, moved from farms in the south to Detroit in search of work.

On my drive to work I pass massive housing construction in downtown Fort Lauderdale while the price of some existing condos in downtown Fort Lauderdale is going down.  That’s not just me saying it.  I’ve seen the property appraiser’s new assessments.  I have a downtown condo owned by parties in litigation.  I called my favorite realtor to ask its value.  He said there are 50 condos for sale in that building.  How marketable do you think that condo is?  Maybe you can find a tenant.  Thousands of new units are being built that will block existing views.  The cost to live in these condos is always high because they have a lot of amenities, lavish swimming pools, gyms, community rooms, elevators, parking garages, security, sometimes even spas and restaurants.

While in the past two months we have had three hurricanes, the President of the United States spends his days attacking myriad, diverse people and ideas.  Today he came for the Puerto Ricans contradicting what he sent his Vice President to tell them a week ago.  No surprise, it is in keeping with his behavior.  He is also attacking, the First Amendment, which I predict will survive, the Iran Deal, the ACHA and the GOP.  The GOP made a deal with the devil when they got behind him, and now Bannon wants to recreate the GOP in his own imagine. 

You might think a person who favors the other party’s policies would be happy to watch this destruction, I’m not.  Trump, like the run on banks, is not the cause.  He is a symptom.  The majority of his voters chose him because he touched a place in their heart that told them they were not getting the recognition they deserved.  They are better than that.  He will lift them up and make them great again, as great as they think they are, should and want to be.  This does not include his wealthy voters who chose him because they believed he would make their passive income rise.  I know many, many Trump voters receiving all manner of assistance that would not exist but for government, Medicaid, Medicare, the ACHA, social security, social security disability, food stamps, workers compensation, and Section 8 Housing, but for some reason they don’t view this as public assistance, like it’s been around so long it’s their right.  They want their right.  They want to keep it from the unworthy who are currently Mexicans, Muslims and transgenders.

It’s such a heady feeling to live with a man who says you deserve to live better, he’ll get you what you deserve and make you feel great, while he manipulates you to get what he wants, to make himself feel great again. 

For those of us who are not loving deaf, dumb and blindly, the runaway train is gaining momentum.  Protect yourself.  May God bless us, everyone.