With Services Being Privatized, is America Developing a Two-Tiered System for Responding to Disaster

[babylonsister]

With Services Being Privatized, is America Developing a Two-Tiered System for Responding to Disaster?

By Naomi Klein, The Nation. Posted November 3, 2007.

With disaster services being privatized, the rich are buying their way out of catastrophe.


I used to worry that the United States was in the grip of extremists who sincerely believed that the Apocalypse was coming and that they and their friends would be airlifted to heavenly safety. I have since reconsidered. The country is indeed in the grip of extremists who are determined to act out the biblical climax -- the saving of the chosen and the burning of the masses -- but without any divine intervention. Heaven can wait. Thanks to the booming business of privatized disaster services, we're getting the Rapture right here on earth.

Just look at what is happening in Southern California. Even as wildfires devoured whole swaths of the region, some homes in the heart of the inferno were left intact, as if saved by a higher power. But it wasn't the hand of God; in several cases it was the handiwork of Firebreak Spray Systems. Firebreak is a special service offered to customers of insurance giant American International Group -- but only if they happen to live in the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country. Members of the company's Private Client Group pay an average of $19,000 to have their homes sprayed with fire retardant. During the wildfires, the "mobile units" -- racing around in red fire-trucks -- even extinguished fires for their clients.

One customer described a scene of modern-day Revelation. "Just picture it. Here you are in that raging wildfire. Smoke everywhere. Flames everywhere. Plumes of smoke coming up over the hills," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Here's a couple guys showing up in what looks like a firetruck who are experts trained in fighting wildfire and they're there specifically to protect your home."

And your home alone. "There were a few instances," one of the private firefighters told Bloomberg News, "where we were spraying and the neighbor's house went up like a candle." With public fire departments cut to the bone, gone are the days of Rapid Response, when everyone was entitled to equal protection. Now, increasingly intense natural disasters will be met with the new model: Rapture Response.

During last year's hurricane season, Florida homeowners were offered similarly high-priced salvation by HelpJet, a travel agency launched with promises to turn "a hurricane evacuation into a jet-setter vacation." For an annual fee, a company concierge takes care of everything: transport to the air terminal, luxurious travel, bookings at five-star resorts. Most of all, HelpJet is an escape hatch from the kind of government failure on display during Katrina. "No standing in lines, no hassle with crowds, just a first class experience."

more...

http://alternet.org/story/66743/?page=entire

[pnwmom]

1. This is the Libertarian dream. Private fire, private police, private health care,

private schools, private everything.

And if you can't afford to pay, you're out of luck.

People should remember that when they're saying good things about Ron Paul.

[annabanana]

2. yes.

Blackwater & their clones will swoop in.. take the rich to safety and train their guns on us to keep the property of the rich out of our hands (be it food or medicine or anything else for that matter)

[bullimiami]

3. yup. fend for yourself or piss off.

[WCGreen]

4. Abd they are just getting this now....

The Masque of the Red Death...

Edgar Allen had it right 180 years ago...

http://www.readprint.com/work-1278/Edgar-Allan-Poe

[silverweb]

5. Absolutely.

An important read.

K&R.