New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize
Li um artigo de opinião muito interessante sobre o valor de Nova Orleães, a cidade do jazz e do swing, para a economia dos EUA, e como isso foi afectado pelo furacão "Katrina" (who names them, anyway?).
A tragédia é sobretudo humana, e para quem não quer ver, demonstra (mais uma vez) a arrogância e desprezo dos republicanos (quase todos e parte dos democratas) a quem não ganhou direito a ser salvo (aka, quem não tem dinheiro e vota democrata). Os estragos estruturais estimam-se na ordem nos 40 mil milhões de dólares (para referência, a guerra do Iraque vai em 220+ mil milhões de dólares; o montante total da ajuda externa dos EUA em 2004 -que inclui um terço para Israel- foi de 19 mil milhões). Os estragos potenciais podem revelar-se muito maiores, como o artigo explica. E mais nojenta é a possibilidade destes serem os principais motivadores da recuperação que se inicia, tardia (os estragos e o custo político).
Em alguns pontos existe um ligeiro exagero, mas fora isso o artigo é bastante revelador. Podem lê-lo aqui.
Cá vão alguns excertos:
"But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans."
"On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on."
"The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure."
"The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time."
A tragédia é sobretudo humana, e para quem não quer ver, demonstra (mais uma vez) a arrogância e desprezo dos republicanos (quase todos e parte dos democratas) a quem não ganhou direito a ser salvo (aka, quem não tem dinheiro e vota democrata). Os estragos estruturais estimam-se na ordem nos 40 mil milhões de dólares (para referência, a guerra do Iraque vai em 220+ mil milhões de dólares; o montante total da ajuda externa dos EUA em 2004 -que inclui um terço para Israel- foi de 19 mil milhões). Os estragos potenciais podem revelar-se muito maiores, como o artigo explica. E mais nojenta é a possibilidade destes serem os principais motivadores da recuperação que se inicia, tardia (os estragos e o custo político).
Em alguns pontos existe um ligeiro exagero, mas fora isso o artigo é bastante revelador. Podem lê-lo aqui.
Cá vão alguns excertos:
"But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans."
"On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on."
"The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure."
"The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time."
(retirei a imagem anterior do Katrina simplesmente pelo motivo de preferir esta)
posted by Kurtz at quarta-feira, setembro 07, 2005
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