Mitigating Damage in Texas

[CWSmith]

I know it sounds pretty heartless, but why should a Federal relief program step in to help any industry or local government organization that doesn't meet or has refused to follow federal government guidelines? Texas did this disaster too themselves, nobody else did! Yes, we should always help out our citizens, but in the case where they have been caught up in a lack of local government failure and are the victims of such, any and all expenditure by the Federals government to rescue them should then be charged back to the State and County of which the failure of proper governance occurred.

There should be Federal oversight to protect any American family, no matter where they live or what state they move to. I don't believe there are any signs on any highway driving into Texas that outlines the fact that they have no regulations to protect homeowners or visitors. Perhaps there should be one that reads:

WELCOME TO TEXAS

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR UTILITY SERVICES, PLUMBING AND BUILDING PRACTICES
ARE BELOW FEDERAL STANDARDS
INDIVIDUAL AND INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR SAFETY
PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT PRICE GOUGING IS NOT ONLY ACCEPTED
BUT IS ENCOURAGED

[Frankiarmz]

Ultimately , it is the individual , the taxpayer who foots the bill ! Government oversight has it's place , and this is a perfect example . How many more poorly managed , vital service providers are waiting to fail under load ? We should be better than this .

[blue_can]

I've heard that in many parts of the country there is no licensing of contractors or enforcement of building codes etc.? Is this true? If so Texas is probably not unique.

[CWSmith]

That may well be the case, I do know of a few.. When I worked in the heavy compressor industry, we had to ship a lot of equipment via Texas contract haulers. Wages were way below minimum and hour regulations were non-existent except those imposed by the ICC. Some of those guys wages were pathetic. Like this current event, other things 'Texas' has at times made me wonder.

CWS

[Redneckron]

I am thinking that Texas is right to work state which can and does encourage lower wages.

[CWSmith]

Redneckron,

Yes, I believe Texas is a "right to work state". There are few of those kind of states and I believe they are all so-called "red states". One would think that with a label like "Right to Work", that would be a good thing wouldn't it? To think that everybody should have a "right to work", why shouldn't they? Sounds good, but in fact what it means is that you don't have the right to unionize, you don't have a right to strike for better wages, benefits, or work conditions. It means that your only choice is to accept the conditions or move to another state.

All "right to work" means is that the employer has the right to hire you at whatever low pay and standards he can get away with; and you, the employee, has to accept that if you want to live.

CWS

[Redneckron]

There are unions in Texas and have met a number of Union members from Texas but there isn't many for sure.

[Bob D.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law

[brucetoolman]

When New Orleans was flooded by a hurricane, FEMA got involved. Turns out the head of FEMA was not an engineer or anything useful. He was a buddy of someone with a lot of influence in Washington. It took a long time to get anything done to help the people. Crews were there for years rebuilding.

[Bob D.]

And again the same lack of preparation by the city and state is what led to much of their disaster. The poorly engineered and maintained levees and dams constructed by ACE didn't help either. It would have happened no doubt. But since no one was testing and maintaining or upgrading any of the pumps and other equipment very little of it worked when the hurricane hit the shore.

Of course building below sea level might have had something to do with it too. Just another example of poor planning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_l...Elevations.jpg