FEMA to halt debit cards, use bank deposit

[Newsjock]

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/world/12604809.htm


HOPE YEN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The nation's relief agency said Friday it will discontinue its program to distribute debit cards worth up to $2,000 to hurricane victims, two days after hastily announcing the novel plan to provide quick relief.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will scrap the program once officials finish distributing cards this weekend at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. No cards will be issued to victims in other states.

Hurricane victims at other locations will have to apply for expedited aid through the agency's traditional route - filling out information on FEMA's Web site to receive direct bank deposits, FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule said.

more

[aquart]

1. So the Texas payoff is over. Okey dokey.

[BadGimp]

2. Direct Bank Deposits???

oh man what a slap to the poor - most of whom do not have bank accounts

The check cashing companies must want a piece

Imagine how willing banks are going to be to open new accounts for folks with no jobs no assets...oh brother..

[LiberalFighter]

13. Even if they do have a bank account...

Do their banks have branches in the new area? Or any branches out of state?

[lindisfarne]

21. My very first thought, exactly; evacuees in TX will get the cards

At least the folks in TX will get them
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced this evening it will scrap the distribution of debit cards worth up to $2,000 once officials finish distributing cards this weekend at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. No cards will be issued to victims in other states.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3346041

[Vanje]

24. I bet Trent Lott gets his!

George W Bush promised to help fix up Trent Lotts beautiful house

[lindisfarne]

27. Trent will be getting one of the $2 million cards. n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. The Check cashing companies charge fees...

..that were once considered usury.

[Vanje]

23. ...no jobs, no assets,.. No ADDRESS!

No address. No phone.
how many of these people even got out with wallets and iD?

For crying out loud!

[skooooo]

3. wtf? is this calculated...

...or just more incompetence? What about people without bank accounts?

[acmejack]

4. It has to be calculated!

I mean the first thing that came to mind was bank accounts, or lack thereof. The .gov isn't stupid. These guys are wily as rats usually are.

[skooooo]

5. banking fees...

Will eat up some of that money too.

[newswolf56]

30. Agreed. Many of the displaced persons never had bank accounts...

and for those who do, banking services will not be available (due to power outages) until electricity is restored in New Orleans -- in other words, not for at least three months. Thus the DPs will be forced to use check-cashing services, which typically charge 10 percent of the face value of the check. The probability -- I'm speculating now but this would be a typical brazen Bush move -- is that the check-cashing companies are owned by corporations that contribute heavily to the Republican Party. Thus Bush has turned another social-service into a profit center for the oligarchy, just as he has done with the Medicare Prescription Drug Lord Benefit.

Beyond that, discontinuance of the debit card program is another of the myriad examples of how it is Bush policy to methodically worsen the hardships of poverty.

[TankLV]

19. Why don't those people just get their mom's party list and call up their

rich friends for donations?! Doesn't everybody have them? Common!

Next I suppose you're going to tell me these people only have one car!

[karenorsi]

6. FEMA tells hurricane survivors to apply for aid online

KCBS in Los Angeles just reported that hurricane survivors are now urged to apply for their emergency money online. Anybody know of an internet cafe in New Orleans where you can bring in your shopping cart? FEMA: Let them eat red tape.

[nookiemonster]

14. Yeah, I heard that from shrub yesterday too.

Use the internet or call FEMA. Give me a fucking break!

What an out of touch asshole.

[Vanje]

25. FEMA isnt answering its phone

A local Louisiana or Mississippi official was interviewd on NPR yesterday.
He said no one was answering the FEMA 800 phone number.

[anotherdrew]

7. crazy, the one good idea they have and they stop doing...

I thought sure they'd just love to hand this off to MBNA to handle.

clearly the speculation was correct, this was just to get people out of the astrodome.

[anotherdrew]

8. would be nice to see cellphone companies handing out prepaid phones too

reconditioned and unsold and overstock phones with free minutes for a few months, then a reduced fee plan for a few months after that. Cingular should be all over that.

[Ready4Change]

9. On their WEB SITE?

Aren't some of these people going to have problems doing ANYTHING on a web site? Not because they don't know how. Because, if they had a computer, it's back in New Orleans, totally trashed.

[electron_blue]

10. gads, I hate being right all the time

Yesterday I pointed out that these debit cards were likely only intended as a cash infusion to the local economy, and not to make any real difference to the victims. Oh sure, they will probably buy things they need, but I am sure the real reason for the debit cards is to move federal money into merchants hands asap.

What a coinkydink that the only state that got the debit cards is Texas. Texas merchants are covered, thank the lord, uh, I mean Dubya.

[buzzsaw_23]

11. FEMA was not created to respond to natural disasters

Go here to learn more about FEMA:
It was in that postwar era that construction began on the top-secret luxury bunker beneath the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia. Hollowed out of the Blue Ridge Moun-tains was the giant underworld at Mount Weather, built to house the president, his cabinet and the Supreme Court justices. Long gone is the day when President Eisenhower's motorcade, speeding towards this Strangelovian bunker, was stalled by a pig farmer's truck on a country road in Virginia. Mount Weather was barely the beginning. In fact, it is currently undergoing massive expansion. That and over 50 more subterranean installations are today under the cloak of FEMA.

<snip>

FEMA's duties and responsibilities have expanded geometrically over the years. The agency's name is now found on numerous mortgage documents, especially if land on a flood plain is involved. Flood insurance is a field which has been taken over by the agency. In 1992 FEMA funded the New England States Earthquake Consortium to-gether with insurance industry groups. In many instances where people were unable to qualify for low-interest loans or reconstruction assistance, free grants of public money were made by the agency. How better to build gratitude while providing disincentives to prepare? In the Midwest, FEMA launched a prototype Geographic Information System to mix commercial and custom software designed to map and analyze data.

Today FEMA commands a vast communications network, technical equipment of near-Star Wars level, an extensive nationwide system of underground bunkers, hundreds of refurbished military installations, and easily activated control of a formidable military force both U.S. and foreign. The agency operates widely dispersed, newly constructed detention facilities which might be mistaken for hospitals. How curious that such activity has become common at closed military bases. Many include rail spurs in a time when there are no legitimate commodities with the bulk and weight which would justify rail hauling. In separate parts of the country, telephone-intercept vans capturing signals have been traced to FEMA. With computers programmed to lock in on certain words and phrases, recording devices are triggered.

http://www.totse.com/en/conspiracy/the_new_world_order/163636.html

[Laelth]

12. So, what's your point?

Not to be rude, or anything, but it's my understanding that FEMA is supposed to handle natural disasters now, though it's clear that under this administration FEMA has failed to do its job. Why does it matter what the organization was originally created to do?

:shrug:

-Laelth

[buzzsaw_23]

26. Point relates not only to FEMA

It's important to understand what the federal agencies are truly about rather than the ostensible and more public perception of their purpose. Another example would be the USDA or HUD. The veneer keeps the truth from being examined.

Look into the history of the WHO_WHAT_WHY of most Fed. Agencies.

[Blaq Dem]

20. What they're saying is that FEMA wasn't designed for poor folks

Randi Rhodes had a Florida Congresswoman on her show last night who said FEMA was giving away checks to people who didn't need them, yet denying them to those who really did need them. It wasn't a surprised to find out those who got them lived in Republican districts and the ones who didn't in Democratic districts. This was done before the 2004 election.

Go here CASHING IN ON DIASTER

[no_arbusto]

28. Ooooooohhhh a "prototype Geographic Information System"

Tell me more about this crazy system that FEMA developed that is capable of mixing "commercial and custom software designed to map and analyze data". I'm sure you already know this but everybody from your local government to your cable company to the Weather Channel uses GIS that mixes "commercial and custom software designed to map and analyze data". That site is bullshit.

P.S. Do you think people should build in floodplains? Here's a hint, New Orleans was one GIGANTIC floodplain.

[steely]

15. Ah yes, and right before the weekend too

don't worry - someone will be there to answer the phones first thing Monday morning, until then, just wait it out.

The insensitivity of these guys knows no bounds.

[Erika]

16. Evacuees, EFT's to bank accounts and online applications?

What world does W live in for God's sake. These people have nothing.

W is a very very evil man.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TankLV]

18. This just gets better and better!

I want to see how they blame this one on the local democratic officials.

First off - the very idea of putting 2,000 dollars in cash on these people - they might as well give each one a neon sign that says "HEY - OVER HERE - ROB ME FIRST!" so they can leave the astrodome and all.

But now, it turns out, that they made these poor souls wait in line for over a day for NOTHING! Yippie!

It will get worse folks. It will get worse.

[Erika]

29. Yeah, W saw to it that Texas got their $

The rest of the country....Silence by Bush,