Link: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1081329&page=1

I am following hurricane coverage probably more than most and reading article after article at various news web sites and on TV and radio. Listening to Rush Limbaugh this afternoon, he launched into a tirade that this died-in-the-wool Conservative felt was entirely out-of-line.

Rush, commenting on an ABCnews.com article whose headline read, "Poorest Hit Hardest By Hurricane Katrina" lamblasted the liberal media for missing the big picture. He claimed, correctly, that the hurricane did not distinguish between the rich and the poor. He went on though to say that the poor were no harder hit or hindered than the middle or upper class. He continued on in this vein until I had to turn him off.

Here's the deal people - the poor were hurt and will continue to be hurt much longer than the middle or upper class. Let's think about this:

• The poor, esp in New Orleans, don't have cars and couldn't flee the area, the middle class probably aren't holed up at the Superdome
• The middle class had the means to not only jump in their cars to flee the region, but to afford a hotel a few hours away for a couple of nights (which now will be much longer)
• According to media reports, only 1 in 5 have flood insurance. Am I to guess that those 20% are the poor, or the more well off?
• The poor are more likely to be renters. Renters have lower net worth and probably no ability to move and build something. Me thinks there will be a severe lack of rental property throughout the region for quite some time.
• The poor, usually with little or no job skills, will have a much more difficult time finding employment than someone with an insured house, ability to move to another city and a college education making them valuable to employers.

I could go on, but I think you are capable of doing the same. On the other hand, save those with "no means" to escape, the Biloxi mayor stated, "this is our tsunami." That too is incorrect. The tsunami hit without any warning whatsoever. Although perhaps devastating, the people of that city and the region had plenty of warning that something was coming their way and perhaps they should vacate. In general, the poorest American is much better off than those effected by the tsunami. A very bad analogy. An earthquake that destroys a wide region would be a better analogy.

Katrina