"[T]he cost of ships and ferries deployed for temporary housing -- in some circumstances, $13 million for six months; in other circumstances, $70 million. Carnival Cruise Lines was hired to house evacuees and government relief workers on three ships docked in New Orleans at the weekly rate of $1,400 per guest -- as opposed to the $499 charged to passengers at sea for a week's tour of the Caribbean."
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/molly_ivins/13211170.htm
Seems a little excessive. I'm not defending this act because the government could have done much better. But consider the following 1)Carnival charges $499 for the lowest accommodations only, 2) I doubt any of these folks were buying excessive amounts of alcohol on board like many cruisers, 3) Carnival lost money from ports-of-call they would have received while cruising, 4) the cruise ships were only 25% capacity while a normal crusie would be over 75% capacity, 5) in addition to paying for their normal crew's salaries (whether working or not), they had to pay for more security not necessary while at sea. ----- As I said, still excessive but let's not spin it this story too far.
I agree with what you say . But it is easy to see that Helping had no priority. I would say even ,it was near the bottom.
Reminds of the twin towers insurance payout for the buildings.. Somebody pointed out that it will cost so much more to rebuild. And that is also true.
Except the POOR owner will have to just live with the ONE BILLION DOLLARS EXTRA that he recieved more than he paid.. Poor guy can't rebuild.
you looked that up didn't ya ?