May 31, 2008

The fabulous BuZh legacy: California and NOLA

the new "Middle Class" prosperity: "Mom forced to live in car with dogs" - CNN.com

go read this.
seriously.

Mom forced to live in car with dogs - CNN.com.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Mother of three grown children says, "This is my life in this car right now"
Santa Barbara, California, allows homeless to sleep in cars in 12 parking lots
Affluent city has seen a rise in homelessness during California's housing crisis
Advocate: "It's just amazing the people that are becoming homeless"

...
Harvey was forced into homelessness this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.

"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them, is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."

Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament. Watch women who live in their cars »

There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers. ...


Storm-Wracked Parish Considers Hired Guns
Washington Post: For DynCorp and other private security companies, the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, like Iraq, is a land of opportunity.
FEMA muzzles Katrina victims
Blackwater Down: Fresh From Iraq, Private Security Forces Roam the Streets of an American City With Impunity
As business leaders and government officials talk openly of changing the demographics of what was one of the most culturally vibrant of America’s cities, mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235.
Some, like Blackwater, are under federal contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite

Fraud, Scandal and Greed Has Crippled the Gulf Coast's Recovery, But Made Some Very, Very Rich
Profiting from Disaster, By JORDAN GREEN


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