Saturday, September 17, 2011

Disaster Incorporated

You want to know why Republicans keep screaming about cutting disaster relief money from the federal government?  Because it's a pretty profitable industry if you privatize it.  Just ask Jeb Bush.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) managed several hurricanes and natural disasters during his two terms as the state's executive, but now he is preparing to respond to storms from the helm of a for-profit company instead of from within the governor's mansion.

Bush's newly created firm, Old Rhodes Holding LLC, joined forces with O'Brien's Response Management to form a for-profit disaster response company, the Maritime Executive reported.

O'Brien's is a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings.

"We are pleased to enter into this partnership with one of the leading response organizations in the United States, backed by SEACOR’s global network," Bush said. "Together we look forward to helping a broader array of organizations and communities become more resilient through preparation, response, communication and recovery."

And hey, the GOP doing everything they can to ensure more and more costly disasters by pulling the plug on climate change legislation and wanting to get rid of the National Weather service suddenly starts to make a hell of a lot of sense when you have Republicans like Jeb Bush selling disaster recovery to companies and communities, right?

They want to get rid of FEMA so they can charge you money next time a hurricane, earthquake, or wildfire hits your area.  And at the rate we're destroying our environment, it's going to be a big, big business soon.

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