Learning from our mistakes

If you have read my blog, you have heard me rant about the horribly inefficient and poorly executed post-Katrina financial aid. Remember those debit cards for $2000 that were given to practically anyone from the Gulf Coast region? Remember the amount of fraud that occurred and that the government is still attempting to recover that money. Even as a cap was successfully placed to contain the Gulf oil spill, the media railed against BP for only paying half of the claims they had received.

"Give them $25,000, give them $50,000 while you work out his claim," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.

What? It's a claim for $5,000. From what I have read, there are people who cannot receive their check because they fail to fill out the forms correctly. I am sure that there is a back log on the paperwork, as well. Our own Needham library has a back log of library books getting checked in that stretches back five days. People do have to go home at night, eat an occasional meal, get paid. While it seems like only medical and surgical residents and pilots have legal work hour restrictions, BP cannot work their claims department to the ground.

Some government officials say that an empty marina is more proof of lost wages than paperwork. These bureaucrats are thrilled to demand someone else empty their coffers to please the people that they themselves cannot. I do not understand why these people cannot apply for TANF, Food Stamps and WIC, unemployment checks, and even short-term Medicaid or a county hospital system gold card to meet their acute needs until they receive a BP settlement check. Why aren't we hearing stories about the government helping these people? Oh, wait- it's because our government of lawyers sees a deep pocket. (Sorry to my lawyer friends and family that actually have integrity. This gross generalization excludes you.)

What company in the world hands out money without a paper trail? Consider the process of making a return at Target: you practically have to give them your entire family's social security numbers and hand over your first born to receive a refund. Any single item over $20 does not deserve a refund. And if you have made three returns without a receipt in a year, you are not permitted to return anything, even for a store credit. And BP is supposed to hand over $20B without verifying anything?

These obtuse bureaucrats are the same people who railed against Enron and Bernie Madoff. Wasn't Enron's undoing the ability to hide their dishonesty in their paperwork? And yet, at every turn, there are people who demand this of BP.

Please, BP, learn from our mistakes. Do not be bullied into throwing money at a problem.