Trailer Sweet Trailer

By Pepper

In his big Katrina speech, it looked like George II would pull a magic trick and fade his blue torso right into a blue background. But it seems like he really does want to whip up a magic trick by rebuilding the Gulf Coast into a bigger, better place without having to pay for it.

Bush and economics have had an uneasy relationship. Now, the nation has three choices when it comes to paying for the Katrina disaster: 1. Raise taxes; 2. Go into increased debt; or 3. Do the job on the cheap. Bush has clearly does not like the first option and is in denial regarding the second: "[Rebuilding is] going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean we've got to maintain economic growth, and therefore we should not raise taxes."

Therefore, the third option is the way to go for Bush and Co. And the solution is the trailer park, for why have a home when you can have a trailer?

The LA Times writes:

FEMA is barreling ahead with plans to create huge trailer-park cities — complete with schools and security. "This may not be on the scale of building the pyramids, but it's close," said Brad Gair, FEMA's disaster-area housing chief.

As many as 200,000 people — most of them in Louisiana — would be housed in the giant trailer parks for up to five years. The sites, scattered around the state, would vary in size from 5,000 to 25,000 people. About 6,000 FEMA-owned trailers are in Louisiana, and hundreds more are arriving daily, Gair said. In the next few days, FEMA plans to break ground on a 15,000-unit trailer city in the Baton Rouge area, and evacuees could start moving in within 10 days.

Trailers - quick and cheap! Bush even made the trailer shipment a focal point of his Big Katrina Speech. Those evacuees will have "homes" in no time, complete with "Trailer Sweet Trailer" cross-stitches on the walls!

Some are having second thoughts about this trailer business. Last night's "Washington Week" panel was horrified at the prospect, labeling the tent/trailer cities "Hoovervilles" and calling them "a social disaster waiting to happen."

No, that's not because journalists have an aversion to the trailer park. But the trailer-park solution smacks of "let's just put them somewhere" instead of sitting down and thinking out a long-term solution to the problem. And a trailer is decidedly NOT long-term housing. And doesn't it strike anyone as odd that, after a region has been destroyed by a natural disaster, the administration seeks to replace evacuee homes with even more vulnerable trailers? (Insert jokes about trailers and tornados here.)