2 points
1) the coverage of Katrina was primarily New Orleans. New Orleans has a very high black population. hence, this created the FALSE impression that Katrina disproportionately affected blacks. Actually, when one takes the ENTIRE gulf region (not just the sexy city of New Orleans) it turns out that there were far more whites (on an absolute AND a relative basis) that were affected than blacks.
obviously, it disproportionately affected POOR people, because poor people are less likely to have insurance, less likely to have the means of transportation to get out on their own, etc.
Now, there is obviously big blame on Nagan, Blanco, and the Bush Administration (moreso Nagan, since he was the one with buses that could have been made available, but i digress), that's a given
2) the USA has among the highest income stratification among industrialized nations. absolutely true. some people think that sux. that's arguable, but i respect that opinion. what is not often mentioned (at least in your typical class warfare post) is that the US consistently has among the top 5% INCOME QUINTILE MOBILITY of *all* industrialized nations. what that means for the layfolk not familiar with the esoteric lingua franca of the economist is that in the USA, statistics show that there is incredibly robust movement BETWEEN income quintiles. iow, the motivated poor tend NOT to stay poor, and that arguably few societies on earth reward hard work, self-discipline, self sacrifice, etc. than the US does
this is clearly seen, for example, in the income stratification between cultural groups
Japanese American families average about 1.75 TIMES the average US income despite the fact that Nissei did not COME to america rich. they prosper because their work ethic, cohesive culture, self sacrifice, strong family bonds, and general lack of socially destructive behaviors is the kind of formula that results in aggregate success in the (relative) meritocracy of the USA
for example, japanese americans have (compared to most other cultural groups) LOW murder rates, LOW contraction of AIDS rates, VERY low out of wedlock birth rates, VERY high education rates, etc. one counterexample is their high suicide rate, which is a cultural artifact as true in the USA, as it is in japan. this proves that culture matters. see: Hayek, Sowell et al
also note the massive success of jews in america. 3-5% of population (depending on how u count) and 25% of the entering classes to ivy leage, and much higher average income
for those who decry racism, let's remember that blacks who are immigrants from the West Indies tend to soundly shellack in income, education, etc. native born blacks, which again tends ot point to culture, not race as THE factor. also, note the OOW birth rate (as mentioned quite often by Bill Cosby et al) for native born blacks is over 70%. if this was an edifice of racism, that's kind of hard to argue, since it was in the 20% range at the turn of the century when there was FAR FAR FAR more anti-black racism than there is now. in fact, one of the single greatest predictors of a child's future success rate is whether he was born out of wedlock or not. women who have multiple out of wedlock births are engaging in behavior that makes it significantly more likely their kids will not succeed
similarly, few would argue that japanese americans are "privileged". these are the same people that were put in frigging concentration camps just 50 or so years ago.
also, a quick look at the forbes or fortune top 500 businesses and wealthy individuals shows an astounding amoung of people who bootstrapped themselves up from little or no privilege.
now of course, ceteris paribus, being born into wealth *is* an advantage. that is a given. what is clear, though , is that our system places great rewards in the reach of those who are willing to practice self sacrifice, discipline, targeted risk taking, and perseverance
i speak as somebody who has experienced this kind of stuff firsthand, and it's part of the reason why i love this country so much
