Awesome! If California residents weren't paying for all the hurricanes in the deep red South and tornadoes in the deep red plains states, then they'd have plenty of money to take care of themselves.
Does this guy ever think through anything before opening his mouth? Is he even capable of thinking?
> Does this guy ever think through anything before opening his mouth? Is he even capable of thinking?
None of this behavior is new; the American people have been fully aware of this and a voting majority decided that he was the most qualified person for the job.
> a voting majority decided that he was the most qualified person for the job.
There's your mistake: the technocratic assumption that elections are job interviews selecting for the "most qualified" candidate.
That's one part, but not the only part. This thought experiment should make it clear: You're voting in an important election. One candidate is an incompetent and unqualified clown, the other is a highly competent and qualified Nazi. You hate Nazis. Who do you vote for?
> If you're arguing that voters choose a person who is less qualified, can you explain how Harris is a Nazi?
Why? Harris isn't a Nazi. The hypothetical was exaggerated to emphasize a specific point. Don't take it too literally or try to map it directly to current events.
I don't know enough about how FEMA works, but I'm assuming it operates at a federal level?
Could eliminating it force states to strengthen their own disaster relief programs?
If that's the case, some potential benefits of this might be that states get more efficient with their overall budget (in order to support disaster relief initiatives). And maybe spurs more innovation in disaster relief tech/processes.
I'd assume states with tighter budgets and less of a tax base will be unable to replicate FEMA's resources, while more populous and wealthy states will be able to work around it.
My questions are if this would have any repurcussions on EMAC membership and if it would increase politicization of aid between states. We've seen this with a number of conservative-leaning states pulling out of ERIC over flimsy political reasons.
BINGO! Poor, rural states don't have the manpower resources or monetary resources to take care of the aftermath of disasters. Let me put it this way, North Carolina wasn't waiting on FEMA in order to start taking care of their disaster.
Yes, FEMA is federal. If eliminating FEMA lowers federal taxes states could increase their state taxes to compensate and each have their own emergency management agencies. But generally it seems like having 50+ emergency management agencies is less efficient than having 1.
Yeah…that must be the problem. They just don’t have enough money for themselves because of all the red states. Of course what little money California does have is mismanaged to hell by its state and local governments, but that will obvious not happen if there is a lot more money available.
Does California take any federal money? Do any of those plains states provide food to California. I don't think you would like this game as much as you think.
Does California get its food for free from the plains states? No? Well then, you can sit down and STFU. BTW, over half of the produce in US grocery stores comes from California. Also, over 90% of the goods coming into the US from East Asia comes through California ports. No California, no Walmart.
This is splitting hairs. These are vocally low/anti regulation and tax states hostile to even the belief in climate change when scoped to state reps [1] [2]. Let them financially support themselves and their disaster risk costs. They voted for this (both at federal and state levels). If they would like federal support for their high risk geography [3] [4] [5], they should consider voting for an administration that will provide such policy and support and believes in the science.
California is the world's fifth largest economy. They will be fine.
My answer is to let people who want to hurt themselves politically and economically proceed after we have collectively attempted to prevent these outcomes. If they get their vote till death, and they don't want to change their vote to anything productive, there is no other choice (as mental models are rigid and tribalism pressures are strong). Good luck to them, effort is better spent on people who actually care and investment where it is valued.
> …or maybe they can just vote for the change they would like at the federal level like they just did.
This is the change they voted for. If it is harmful to them, that was their choice. As Jamie Dimon said, "Get over it." Vote better next time? If the forest votes for the axe after everyone told them not to, I have no compassion when the axe starts chopping.
These states and many of their citizens have been murmuring about a "cold civil war" and "peaceable secession" for decades, and a few have been flirting with secession since the actual civil war ended. They don't want to be a part of the US - or more accurately they consider only themselves to be the US, proper, and reject the authority of the Federal government as illegitimate, oppressive, and run according to cultural values which they despise.
So yeah, maybe it's better to let them go than suffer having them dragging the rest of the country down with them.
…or maybe they can just vote for the change they would like at the federal level like they just did.
Funny how that works in a republic like ours. If their direction doesn’t pan out, you have opportunities in 2026 and 2028 to right the ship. Of course that would mean that the democrats will actually have to provide a leader to two that can effectively communicate, motivate, and lead.
While I am normally in team "hey scale it by capita", this case makes me hesitate. (Would we also need to factor in statewide cost-of-living values?)
If $X is exported from residents of my state out to support another state, that's the same local impact regardless of how populous the destination is or how finely that $X gets split after it arrives.
In any case, I think it's enough to support the idea that there's a tension (if not contradiction) where the states that receive the most absolute benefit are also the ones electing politicians who pretend the exact opposite.
I'm not taking a political stance here, because that's not the purpose of this forum. But from an efficiency perspective, I believe the question is whether a federal "agency" (and its associated bureaucracy) is necessary to deal with local emergencies, not whether federal "financial aid" may be necessary to help support state and local governments. Most if not all states have their own emergency management programs.
From the article, it doesn't sound like FEMA will be eliminated, just incredibly politicized. So... yay?
> Trump has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration’s response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. As he left the White House on Friday morning, he told reporters that “it’s been a horrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester” since the storm hit in September, and “we’re going to get it fixed up.”
> “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” he told Hannity, adding that “FEMA is getting in the way of everything.”
So to be clear, when it happened during the previous administration, it was the administration's fault. When it's his administration, it is the agency's fault and also not his responsibility. And it sounds like the president changes his tune based on whether the disaster was in a red state or a blue state.
Everything that has been said so far is so in conflict with itself so it's hard to guess what a policy change would even be. So my guess would be nothing happens and we don't hear about it anymore as soon as wildfires are out of the news cycle.
Developers: America has been taken over by a bad, pointy haired boss. Suggestions on how to deal with him? Tell him what he wants to hear and continue doing what's needed? Ignore his insane announcements, just come in for work as usual and do the necessary things? Hope that he is ousted or removed somehow? Indeed.
This seems a relevant time to remember that 90's-era conspiracy mythology saw FEMA as the big boogeyman agency whose emergency powers were essential to an authoritarian seizure of the nation.
Along with the ATF and IRS (for other reasons), its looming and certain villiany rallied sovereign citizen and militia types to organize and arm themselves.
Assuming some of those people now have more political influence than they have had in the past, it seems like the legacy of that mythos could be part of what's at play here.
Does this guy ever think through anything before opening his mouth? Is he even capable of thinking?