Is the federal government using natural disasters as another big pot to skim from?

Posted on | May 1, 2013 | No Comments

all of the hurricanes and disasters before Kathrine were estimated at maximum to about $20 billion.
with Katrina there was a jump in cost: estimated 108 billion, 1,800 deaths, 300, 000 homes completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. about half of the loss was insured, so the total loss that was not paid by insurances was $50 billion. we do not know how much of this money was paid for by charities.
In hurricane Sandy only 71 people died in the hurricane.  Some reports place the total number of deaths at 142  If you compare damage by the number of deaths as the sign of the magnitude of devastation, you would expect the cost of rebuilding to be one twelfth, meaning  one twelfth of 50 billion, only 4 billion. Why did Congress allocate 60 billion?
Let us compare to neighbors  Canada found the total damage to be 100 million, US -71 billion in Sandy damage. Granted, Canada is further north, however one would expect the numbers to be much closer. 4 billion would make more sense.
Next, let us look at destroyed homes: in Katrina 300,000 homes were destroyed. We do not have total numbers for Sandy. How many homes were completely destroyed and rendered uninhabitable.
Currently only 39,000 families in NJ, state mostly hit by the hurricane, are unable to return to their homes as the homes are still uninhabitable.   Well, how many of these homes were completely destroyed or need simple repair? How much of them are insured? Let’s imagine that there is the same number of destroyed homes in NY. Let’s imagine that all of these homes were destroyed beyond repair, which of course is not the case. That would add up to about 70,000 homes, about 1/4th of what it was in Katrina. so again the numbers for uninsured home destruction should be 1/4 of 50 billion, or 12 billion. Again the question rises: why did Congress allocate     60 billion?
Remember this big concert by stars to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy? How much was raised? where did this money go?
As with everything else, there is no accountability.