Sometime back in the 80’s, this area had severe flooding on the Illinois River. Was it 1983? A federal agency representative came to Peoria looking for office supplies. My company was called One-Stop Office Mart and listed in the Yellow Pages; this “One Stop” label caused them to visit my store. They were looking for office supplies and equipment to set up a Peoria field office and also looking for one source to supply household flood disaster kits. To shorten the story, we were selected as the source of finding, buying, assembling, storing and delivering these flood disaster kits. Along with a few basic office supplies, each kit included sheets, blankets, pillows, house wares of all kinds including , mops, brooms, pails, sponges, toilet paper, paper towels, detergents, dish rags and towels, bath accessories, silverware and dishes, pots and pans, ect. Our job was to put a team together and go out and buy the products at the best price we could bargain. My recollection is we hired Community Workshop or an agency similar to help assemble and box up these kits which we stored in our warehouse, dispersing as the government directed.
We were able to complete the job on the schedule required and it worked out well for both parties. We had never done anything similar so we took the project on a time and material basis. The government agent had been looking for a sole source and I and my company supplied it even though I had never attempted to do such a large job on such short notice. We supplied the product and the service needed at my company’s average gross margin of profit. We could have probably named our price because we were apparently the only company that had the resources and ability to service their needs.
It bothers me greatly to see how some companies are “profiteering” in times of disaster. Did you read where this company in Texas is supplying a quantity of mainly abandoned ambulances and drivers to the government at a profit of $800.00 a day per ambulance? The $800.00 doesn’t even include gas, maintenance or insurance.
Dozens of “profiteering” lawsuits will be filed in the next several months and those will just be suits filed against the most easily identified acts of dishonesty.
I am a strong believer in free market capitalism but this market cannot exist without limited government oversight. The private sector is entitled to a reasonable profit; not unreasonable profiteering. But “reasonable” is defined one way by basically honest people and another way by those who are known as “profiteers”. Therein lays the problem. Determining the difference between profits and profiteering is the job of honest private and public officials, prosecutors and judges. We hope when all the unreasonable profiteering in the last few years is sorted out, a lot more crooks will join in federal prisons those already sentenced or awaiting further prosecution for ripping off their companies, stockholders and the taxpayer. Unfortunately too few will ever get sentenced and even then we taxpayers still foot the bills. Fortunately, most people are honest in their conducting of business, especially in times of disaster. May that continue to be the case in this sometimes mad and distressed society.
While the great majority of us are trying to make a decent wage or return on our investments, a lot of people are plotting how to take advantage of other peoples unfortunate circumstances. Having “faith” that all people are looking after your best interests makes us, at times, look like fools.
The saying trust, but verify, has never been more important. Do most of you believe we had the right people in leadership positions such as at FEMA and in Louisiana? Did we have all the right people in this administration and past administrations; the right people in all the other bureaucracies including Congress? If so, why do we appear to be so unprepared when predicted disasters strike?
OK ENOUGH ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROFITS AND PROFITEERING. I’LL MOVE ON TO THE ‘WHAT IF’S” OF THE DISASTER OF THE DELTA STATES.
I received an email from a friend referring to an article in Scientific American dated October 1, 2001. This article was reprinted on 9/20/05 in SA’s online issue so you can pull it up and read it. It is too lengthy for me to forward (I will pass it on to you if you request a copy) but it outlines all the major possible problems and the most likely solutions that might have averted most of this disaster in the delta. It details what agencies were involved and why all the combined leadership did not take the proper steps or spend the money. Which congressman would want to deprive a parking deck or ball park of government funds so that $20 billion dollars could have been used to greatly reduce the suffering now ongoing on a magnitude never seen to date in this country? Or a 242 million dollar bridge that Chairman Stevens gifted to himself and his Alaskan constituents? Maybe everyone is waiting for Stevens to go first.
We probably agree that no one agencies actions could have saved a city built so far below sea level; a city that was sinking lower daily and with a shrinking delta; a delta that previously provided a natural high wind and water barrier. Decisions made years ago doomed the city. Common sense actions didn’t happen because of the lack of agreement and failure to recognize infrastructure priorities.
Those of us served by the Illinois River need to take some responsibility. Most systems used on the Illinois River tend to slow the speed of the water allowing sediment usually carried south to drop in areas like Lake Peoria. The delta area claims to receive only half the sedimentation of past years; the sedimentation needed to build the natural barriers to hurricanes. Environmentalists’ requests to fully study the beneficial effects of occasionally “flushing the river” fall on deaf ears because of immediate adverse economic effects and disbelief that it could be done. Perhaps one day we will be moving silt from North to South by barge instead of by a flowing river. If we can ship river silt upstream to Chicago we can easily ship downstream and sell it to Mississippi and Louisiana.
No one will ever know the total cost of Katrina but some estimate $300 billion or more in just infrastructure damage alone. The whole country is paying and will be paying for a long time for these mostly preventable disasters. No dollar amounts can be put on death, injury, mental stress, displacement, personal loss and disorientation.
As a long time believer in infrastructure before enhancements, maybe disasters such as Katrina and now Iris will prompt some of our leadership to stop playing the “politically correct” game of doling out dollars to those who elect you and want you to bring the money back into the communities you represent. I have no problem with that but when you have an infrastructure problem like New Orleans that affects everyone serviced by this port city, it should have a higher priority than a study to determine the sexual habits of geese or the creation of an alligator farm. (I just made those up to make the point of priorities). I’m hopeful but past experience tells me that probably some of our national and community infrastructure priorities will be elevated but “some” will not be nearly enough for predictable problems of the future.
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