Katrina's ripples: Economy, race, and class I find it hard to write about anything other than Hurricane Katrina right now. The humanitarian catastrophe is the primary story and where most of the attention ought to be focused. But the ripples of the storm will be felt on so many other levels it bears examining them. For now, I'll look at the consequences for the economy and for class and race relations in the country.

Economy:

The Washington Post writes:

Katrina's economic effects may be more lasting than those that usually follow big storms, economists and businesspeople said yesterday, owing to the severity of the damage and the unique geography of the New Orleans region. The storm hit a chokepoint in the U.S. economy -- a concentration of ports, rail lines, barge traffic and major highways making up one of the nation's major trade hubs.

New Orleans is the largest port in the country, and this storm has essentially knocked it out of commission. It fed goods up the Mississippi River that supplied millions of Americans. I don't think anyone knows how long it will take to get the distribution network up to speed, but everything from oil and industrial goods to bananas and coffee will be affected.

20 oil rigs are missing from the Gulf of Mexico and reportedly the word from oil industry insiders is that the damage to Gulf oil output could be much worse -- perhaps months or years before it gets back to pre-Katrina levels. And last I checked, the current price of oil wasn't exactly considered at bargain levels. Tons of key industries depend on oil, and with prices rising even more and no drop in sight, airlines, industrial output and more will face great negative consequences.

Jerome at DailyKos has even more on all of this.

Race/Class Divisions:

A post at DailyKos brings to everyone's attention this article from Reuters. Many poor and low-income families in Biloxi did not have the means to flee the oncoming hurricane. They were left to feel the brunt of the storm, and no doubt the majority of the deaths from Katrina will turn out to be people who had fewer economic resources at their disposal. Looting in the Biloxi area has turned vengeful, aimed at upscale residences.

Jack Shafer, writing at Slate, notes the media's failure to address the elephant-in-the-room: the storms victims are overwhelmingly poor blacks:

When disaster strikes, Americans—especially journalists—like to pretend that no matter who gets hit, no matter what race, color, creed, or socioeconomic level they hail from, we're all in it together. [snip] But we aren't one united race, we aren't one united class, and Katrina didn't hit all folks equally. By failing to acknowledge upfront that black New Orleanians—and perhaps black Mississippians—suffered more from Katrina than whites, the TV talkers may escape potential accusations that they're racist. But by ignoring race and class, they boot the journalistic opportunity to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of a whole definable segment of the population. What I wouldn't pay to hear a Fox anchor ask, "Say, Bob, why are these African-Americans so poor to begin with?"

A quick Google News search for "Katrina+class+race" shows that plenty of people are writing about this. It's worth noting that the National Guard is being called in to stop the looting now (rightfully so) but do we really know how well trained they are to do this? This morning there were shots fired in New Orleans at a helicopter evacuating people from the Superdome as the Guard moved in. How does this equation look for you:

Unprecented Devastation+ Years of built up race/class tension + hastily deployed Guard troops + everything else that chaos brings = a potential powderkeg waiting to go off  ¶ 8:48 AM