62 Billion Dollars !?!

Congress has passed about 62 billion dollars in Katrina relief money. That's as of now. I've heard some people are estimating as much as 200 billion will eventually be allocated for Katrina relief. All this on top of the billions that are being spent on rebuilding Iraq!

Where does all this money come from? From what I hear, nowhere really, they are just borrowing from the American peoples' future. I heard some talk of repealing the republican enacted tax cut. I'm not exactly sure how much that equates to, but I'd imagine its still not enough for the Katrina relief. And such a repeal is rather unlikely in a republican controlled Congress. The financial behavior of the US government really frustrates me. Why aren't they subject to the same common sense rules as everyone else? In my personal finances, if an unexpected expense arises, such as an expensive car repair, the money has to come from somewhere else. I don't keep spending my money the same way I was before the unexpected expense. So why can the government do that? And why don't they save some money for unexpected costs? Most people with a good handle on their finances put away a chunk of money "for a rainy day". Does the US government have a "rainy day fund"? Not that I'm aware of. They can't even balance the budget for a single fiscal year, let alone save something for the future.

And where exactly is this 62 billion dollars going? I understand there is a lot of destruction on the Gulfcoast, but don't those people have hurricane insurance? I would think that would be requirement down there when people apply for a home mortgage. I realize that some lower income people don't own homes and may not even be able to afford renter insurance. But I would think the landlord would have insurance on the building. I know there will be a significant cost in cleaning up the cities and their public infrastruture, but won't most of the cost fall on insurance companies who have to pay claims to all the people and businesses in that area? Where the insurance companies get that kind of money is another question.

I heard someone at work today talking about the hurricane destruction and he said some really interesting things - which isn't unusual as he is very intelligent and he can rightfully say things like "when I got my first patent" and "the first billion dollars I earned the company". Anyway, he was talking about how he owns some property down along the Gulf of Mexico, and how beautiful and wonderful it is. But he said he doesn't have a mansion down there because "you know that every 10 years this storm comes through and makes the cars float down the street." I thought his comment was well said. I don't think many people have that kind of view point. I don't think they buy or build a house along the Gulf coast with the idea in there head that it is quite likely a major hurricane will come through this area in their life time. It is even more likely as global warming continues - but that is a topic for another day.