If we helped regular working class Americans, how could we fund programs like tax breaks for private jets? Maybe trump will be able to pass a tax break for the poor billionaires to buy new yachts.
@@olgakim4848There is very little money. No where near enough to go around. The government is running a $2 trillion a year defecit. That means they are borrowing money just to keep the country barely functioning. You have backwards socialism In America. The corporations get all the bailouts and government help, while 99% of the population get nothing, not even functioning schools.
You guys are full of it. Go down to the low-income neighborhoods and really look deep. Yes, the extremely rich don't pay their fair share when it comes to percentages. I will agree with you whole-heartedly. But the low-income American has learned to just sit on their asses and let big government take care of all their needs: income, healthcare, rent, food, cell phones, etc. And every bit of it is done completely legal. We ARE a welfare state. Both the super rich and poor have learned how to work the system to their advantage to ride the backs of the middle class all the way. Until we start addressing that, we won't get anywhere.
It's wild that people trust insurance companies more than government. Insurance companies in this country are built to make giant profits off of us, yet we do nothing to really regulate them. And whose names are on all the huge new stadiums and buildings as sponsors? Those insurance companies.
FEMA's budget should be raised immediately to at least $100 Billion per year. And a special assistance fund for WNC of however many billions more are needed there to clean up and help people.
Find out who your state insurance ombudsman is and learn all you can about the rules insurance companies *must* follow. The ombudsman is _kryptonite_ to insurance companies!
Unfortunately it government that trust insurance not other way around as government relies way more on private companies than itself which why it getting further into debt.
North Carolina needs to create laws to block private equity from buying up businesses and land in these impacted areas before it's too late otherwise there will never be a recovery.
You can do something, join a union if you can and focus on your local politics, those things affect you directly everyday and you can meet and speak with local government face to face. Attend your council meetings on the issues important to you. You're an American, and our founders gave us the right but also the responsibility to be active in our governance. I think most people would be surprised at what you can get done just by showing up. Have an impact where you can within your means, because a thousand ants will eat an elephant, as the proverb goes. And if you're truly effed, we as Americans can always be Luigi. That is what the 2nd Amendment is meant for.
Public Assistance Grants. FEMA has obligated more than $292 million for 47 grants to support the Tropical Storm Helene recovery in North Carolina.Dec 9, 2024 North Carolina Faces the Effects After Republican Legislators Blocked Resilient Building Codes, Losing Millions in FEMA Funding RALEIGH A year after legislative REPUBLICANS blocked the implementation of more resilient building codes, the financial consequences across North Carolina are becoming clear. Communities across the state missed out on an estimated $70 million in federal FEMA funds this year due to the Republican veto override of HB 488 in 2023. Access to affordable homeowners insurance will become more scarce in many areas as well due to Republicans and special interest blocking new resilient building codes. “Legislative Republicans moved North Carolina backward by recklessly blocking new building codes that would require new homes to be more resilient and efficient,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “As a result, it will become harder to find home insurance and we’re missing out on tens of millions of dollars in federal recovery funds. That’s a lose-lose for our state, particularly when storms hit.” And then North Carolina voted for Republicans again You got what you voted for.. hope you’re happy because you only seem to care about yourselves so pick yourselves up by your bootstraps mo fos
Many areas of Appalachia have been like "third world countries" for decades due to economic reasons. How can people recover when they had almost nothing already?
This area isn’t one of them (some Helene hit areas are, but the ones in this video are largely wealthy, even if the most impacted individual residents aren’t). A 1BD apartment is the River Arts District can run well over $1500/mo.
@@silverXnoise That’s normal rent nowadays, it’s that bad now with landlords these days. And op ain’t wrong, Appalachia is the poorest region outside the native reservations. But at least the reservations have sovereignty of some kind
And they consistently vote against their own self interest because they buy the garbage that republicans are selling. Just look where it has gotten them. And they will turn around and vote for trump.
@@NAC_Exec It's hilarious that this sort of cope is exactly how we're in this situation. They have enough money, PERSONALLY, to buy and sell your ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD in the snap of a finger, but you're so worried about prices being passed along. GUESS WHAT DINGBAT - WHY DO YOU THINK THEY'RE RICH TO BEGIN WITH? Because they don't give you a good deal. Because they want to screw you out of money. And all you can do is bend over and take it, too scared of propaganda about price raises. Regulations to stop them from screwing us, and taxes to ensure at least their unchecked riches go to public services instead. We can fix this problem, but it starts at realizing that billionaires NEED to be made LESS POWERFUL, and that the only way to do that is to take their money.
It shouldn’t be shocking to you or anyone, with all due respect …many people have spoken out over at least 2 decades about, income inequality, corporate consolidation industries, concentration of financial markets , …Trump carved out 155 billion from FEMA in 2019…Elizabeth Warren dug in to fight it but to no avail…as Trump enters office, with Musk in toe ..are going gut the entire safety social net And you won’t have to worry about inflation next year because the global economy will collapse..it had already begun in the EU with Germany and France on the ropes..US stave off collapse in the near term , but we can’t escape it. Some are saying it could a historic collapse Americans have to wake up…be an active participant in your rescue
I remember researching the funding for Katrina recovery. It was like ten cents on thr dollar left after all the rapacious contractors got through with it. This is just capitalism, folks. It's what we want apparently. We vote like we love billionaires more than our neighbors. Especially in the South.
Um, maybe communities will help themselves just like they have done throughout the history of the country. FEMA is a relatively recent government agency.
@@Steve-Richter Psst, paying taxes into a big pot of money that is distributed through the government when people need help due to disasters IS communities helping communities. Americans helping Americans. Done right, it is the most efficient method, because it means that everyone pays a very little bit every year instead of people who are also hit by the same disaster having to help when they themselves are also struggling under the effects of the same disaster. I'm sure communities are helping each other in all the ways they can, but if your entire settlement has been wiped out "helping yourself" might be a bit tricky.
Yep. Trump exploited their suffering to point out the current administration's failings, and then he and his bff Elon turned around and blocked the money earmarked in the continuing resolution for those affected by Hurricane Helene.
Was up there last week. People are doing their best. The scale of the devastation is unthinkable, though. One correction: FEMA is NOT GONE. There's permanent offices up there, now.
FEMA is stopping some things like housing in hotels for the displaced and some of the food distribution efforts. The community is preparing to do what we can to keep trying to sustain those most impacted
Hi, North Carolinian here! FEMA is helping people far more than just the $750, that's just the minimum if you've been effected in any way. BUT FEMA is SUPER underfunded!!! Their total budget for the entire YEAR is $20bil, helene alone caused (you stated) $54bil in damages!!! They want to help, but literally don't have the funds! And Trump wants to defund FEMA more!!! 😡
@@Trackman71 you're part of the problem. President-elect Musk and Vice President-elect Trump just tried to nuke the continuing resolution for our federal budget because they wanted to REMOVE FEMA budget increases. Pay attention. Do better.
Already is. The Dems don't even realize they lost. They're still pushing extreme right wing actions, trying to be more anti-American to entice voters from tRump. LOL
It’s been the same for every disaster. That’s what we got. Katrina, CA fires, Puerto Rico. Congress has to increase funding and FEMA will still only be able to to do so much. I’m sure administration can improve effectiveness. People say there is some graft in contracts (like everywhere forever) that might get cut out. Congress decides how much money is available and how big an agency is.
I’m going to need people who would like to be rescued during disasters to support taxing the wealthy. Otherwise, they should just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and remain quietly content. Surely, a red state doesn’t think FEMA should use tax dollars to help them when they don’t like taxes. That would be insanity.
The thing about calling a whole state for one or the other is that it ignores the impact of gerrymandering to shut out the voice of the true majority. It is sad, and will only get worse as our educational system and basic understanding of the us constitution continues to fade. And as poison in the food, water, and air continually worsens people’s cognitive abilities to think critically, or escape survival mode to look up and pay attention at all. I agree tax the rich, and so many common sense things we should be doing… but as a person living in Asheville, I just want you to know that we (the working class) agree on more than we disagree. There’s just all these traps people are falling into… including experiencing Helene and the impact on peoples ability to vote… and the shady changes in laws they were making even before Helene… like changes to make it harder for the university students to vote for example…
Classic. O and let’s not forget MAGA conspiracy theorists that prompted armed ‘militias’ to go around hunting FEMA workers either, huh? I guess low taxes are great until you need your government, and then it’s cries of this is a disgrace and so on. When will Americans wake up to the fact that higher taxes, especially for the well off and wealthy, are worth it if you get cheaper healthcare and disaster relief, like the rest of the civilised world? Red pilled indeed.
So, people want less government, less taxation, don't "believe in" the sciences that prove global climate changes, but want one department (FEMA) of the federal government to be funded and staffed to be able to give 100% assistance until everything is fixed in the event of natural disasters. Throughout the USA. Have I got this right? 🧓💙🇺🇸
Yeah, that's what I don't get. I mean, if you were sitting on a giant mountain of cash, and you had the means to aid your fellow citizens in their most dire of circumstances, and you chose not to... what kind of callous, self-absorbed vulture would you be, really? Elon Musk could fix this with the change he finds down the back of his couch. The good billionaires could do with the resources they have at their disposal is immeasurable, but they absolutely don't care. "Oh no. Some peasants are living in a tent because their homes and livelihoods washed away in a flood? That's sad. Hey, have you seen my new yacht?!"
2,898,424 North Carolinan voters think we need smaller government though, even as FEMA closes up their showering facilities. Yes, propaganda works, but also North Carolinan MAGAts hate their neighbors or are too stupid to see that conservatism is not the way forward.
It astounds me how miles and miles can be flattened, totally ruined, and people expect it to be all fixed up, back to normal, 3000 houses built and furnished, all the streets and bridges repaired or replaced, all the mess gone, the hundreds of thousands of downed trees cut up and carried away to somewhere. schools and hospitals and workplaces rebuilt and functioning, all in a few months' time as if it never happened. Get real, people. Without a caring society you wouldn't even have the tents you're sheltering in (and cursing daily), the shoes on your feet, and the food you're eating. What's more, this is going to keep on happening because of 80 years of denying climate change and refusing to make even the smallest changes to try to soften some of this harm that 99+ % of scientists assured us was coming. I realize this comment is going to make a lot of people furious but People, denying reality is what made all this happen. It won't even BEGIN to stop getting worse until decades after we start making the necessary changes for our survival. Do you care or not?
Yes, it's been hot before but there were few humans. The length of time it took for those previous climate changes to occur could be several centuries. Not the 150 years or so it's taking this time.
Because we have ignored the effects of rising CO2 on our climate, we will now have to look at relocating entire communities. Rebuilding or building towns and cities right next to rivers or on the coast is pointless. No more flood insurance should be provided to owners of places like Mar a Lago and the government needs to provide assistance to those of us in the 99% to assist with relocation to higher ground.
You don’t get a functioning government without a functioning tax system. It’s really that simple. You guys keep getting what you vote for. Agree that mass relocations is the only feasible solution now, but this means higher taxes across the board. A society in which everybody isn’t paying their fair share is a society that goes into rapid decline, and then fails.
We have been warning of these types of weather catastrophes for 50+ years. There is no way FEMA or any other agency will be able to handle what is coming. Sadly, every time someone signs a royalty check from an oil company they are saying, "Drill baby drill". We could have changed our ways, but once again, money wins and the poor lose.
If by the poor you meant not multi millionaire yeah... constantly voting for Republicans who run on racism, guns and trans fear eventually you are the minority. Lmao Trump forever!!!!!
They literally chanted “drill baby drill” at the most recent Republican National Convention. This was an important election for changing course on climate change, and the dems fumbled it.
It’s always funny when politicians act appalled when government funded organizations don’t (can’t) help people enough when the policitans are the ones who put forward legislation that can give the orgs more money to actually help people
This. They voted in small government conservatives. This is the result (the shower tents packing up, the debris remaining). 2,898,424 NC voters chose Trump AFTER the hurricane.
@@SpeakerWiggin49EXACTLY. They want small government and then wonder why, and cry foul about it, when that what’s they get! Tax cuts are all well and good until you are desperate and need government programs to be properly funded, huh?
@@SpeakerWiggin49think they stole it. it makes more sense. the dem governor was voted in with about 70% of the vote or something. but then they vote for trump? sus as f
Climate change will keep making things more expensive everywhere and any risk management agency will struggle. There isn't funding to rebuild entire cities every few years. The money is spent elsewhere. Yet the US people voted for the party that is promising policies that help the ultra wealthy instead of the people that helped unions stay strong and funded local infrastructure.
Did people expect the recovery to be overnight? This storm turned a good portion of this country into a 3rd world country. Asheville is the new post Katrina New Orleans.
This is peanuts. The real issue is a shrinking tax base. Nobody wants to pay taxes for a functioning government and then cry foul when they need, that’s right, a functioning government! But I’m sure Trump will sort all this out for you guys. SMH. In the rest of the developed world people understand that higher taxes are in fact a form of social insurance: with proper public funding (ie. a fair and realistic tax system) you get public healthcare, disaster relief and reconstruction, infrastructure, social and affordable housing, disability programs, old age pensions, unemployment benefits that are indefinite and cover you UNTIL you find another job! If everybody pays their fair share in tax society works, for EVERYBODY. If everybody is trying to rort the system it fails, and only the rich benefit. You get what you vote for, pretty much.
Wow, I feel for these people. Maybe there would be more FEMA money if corporations and billionaires paid their fair share of taxes? And I’m sure that the guy that this state voted in as the next president will be happy to help you out (drill baby drill, and btw oil companies, for a billon dollar donation to me I’ll get rid of all of your regulations- at least the few that are left).
Its Citizens that did everything w donations. Gvmt did NOTHING exactly like several and biden made it clear NO HELP! Trump donated at least 3 mill and got other friends to help. People donated 14000 in generators to help w heat but some police sent by gvmt stole them all. Gvmt also forbid RVs, campers, tiny. insulated living, warm, sanitary showers, restrooms. Only tents allowed! No military rescue/help period! What a regime we let run us! Not ONE corporation donated crap!
Insurance companies are design to profit so when that design is no longer profitable than they left very little choice but close. This is consequence of a for profit country where even US politicians profit more than most people do due problems they make.
My aunt has worked for FEMA for 25yrs after being an RN. She has PTSD as its become so surreal how the workers are NOT allowed to do what they know the people NEED. Dont blame the FEMA workers rhey want to help but must do what they are told.
@@UneducatedGeologistrepublicans have been intentionally breaking it for decades to privatize everything and then you complain about the mess you’ve been openly and bragging about making
This was an anomaly. Not that it might not happen. Maybe it is a new trend. It was especially bad because this is not a place usually affected by Hurricanes. You can’t predict exactly where it will happen. And for people to just pull up an start somewhere new? That won’t happen.
We have a friend in Asheville NC. They didn't have running drinking water for months after the storm. They got drinkable water around Thanksgiving. Things are still bad down there.
Resident of western NC here. Many folks around here were very spiteful towards the federal government before. The response after Helena has only reinforced and validated their beliefs.
A perspective you never see with events like this is focusing on what causes it and changing our ways to try and help prevent it vs focusing on on how do we fix it after the fact. Hurricanes are becoming more frequent and more devastating, with the hurricane season expanding in length. This isn't coincidental or just "the way nature is." This is directly correlated to climate change.
Tire of this, man. We tried. More than 2.7 million North Carolinians voted for Harris. She lost by less than 200k votes, and won the county where this was filmed 67% to trump’s 36%. Go fact yourself.
If you’re going to throw numbers, then you should also note that over 2.7 million NC residents voted for Harris. She lost by less than 200k votes. Furthermore, in Buncomb County, where Asheville is the county seat, she won 67% to trump’s 36%. We tried. Doesn’t mean we don’t deserve federal aid.
People are going to continue to be fooled and disappointed until they start getting involved in their own government. Leaving it up to career politicians and corporate lobbyists because “I just don’t do politics” is childish and self-destructive. We live in a democracy. Government policies affect our lives. Learn and participate.
Ahhh, but innate greed will prevent that. They're too busy impressing each other with their expensive toys and McMansion. You know you need at least 6 yachts and a few Lear jets, just for starters.
Spot on. The tech billionaires that just donated 1 million each to the upcoming inauguration which doesn't need the money could have shown some humanity and donated it where it is needed instead of kissing the orange abomination's ass with it. Welcome to the United States of GREED.
Elon has made 4 billion dollars a day since the election. Imagine how much 4 billion dollars could do in NC. He received help from the government when he needed it. It would be nice to see 1 billionaire do the right thing.
I mean, you're pretty much on your own once you are born in the United States. Lots of people in this country whine and cry about big government and then turn around and demand the government solve their problems. We don't know what types of insurance policies these people purchased, and many people get cheap and choose to be under-insured. People need to be fully insured on their own. My family home burned down in one of the California wildfires. My mom paid for years on an excellent homeowner's policy, and she was paid out immediately without issue.
You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry. Over 2.7 million people in NC voted for Harris. She only lost by less than 200k votes. Furthermore, in Buncomb County where most of this was filmed, she won 67% to Trump’s 36%. I live here. We’re not happy we lost, but NC is not a lost cause and the people here don’t deserve your condescension.
Here in Alaska, we had a major earthquake not that many years ago. FEMA was not enough. Insurance was not enough. There were houses that were so badly damaged that the city had them condemned. Houses whose mortgages hadn’t even been paid in full. Some folks just literally walked away. What else were they supposed to do? Everyone suffered. The banks repossessed worthless buildings and the home owners lost their places to live and all the equity they paid into it.
Take money from billonaires. It would NOT be unjust. Those who have more than they need can be forced to assist those with (desperate) needs. You can't serve God and greed.
@Perfidion If you want to go to Hell, then you can be greedy. For example, usury is a sin against justice, so that means that you must give restitution before a priest can absolve you of your sin of usury.
The rich should be paying more, but, frankly, nobody in America wants to pay taxes: forgoing public funding for all forms of social capital. Then they cry foul when they need a functioning government! America keeps getting what it votes for, especially in the South. SMH. It’s insanity.
They were voting for more disaster relief so there would be more to help these people! The raise was only a 3.9% cost of living adjustment which of course the billionaires and their bootlickers are against because you want to keep the government bending to the elites and crest
this is propaganda the raise posted on X is a lie the real things in the bill would have prohibited musk from earning more money so he ginned up lies to get people on his side did you know he owns X and controls all the info he put out on there?
I worked with several families after Hurricane Katrina who were bused to Nashville. One family spent 8 days on a bridge. Please remember that things will not immediately do back to normal. Parts of NOLA are still abandoned. Rebuilding will take several years. That’s how it is. We live next to a creek that is dry 10 months a year. After a weekend of rain, the creek flooded a neighbors house and it took 2 years to redo their house. We all have flood insurance because of a spring fed creek. Some of these families may need to move to a different location. It’s hard and it costs a lot. FEMA doesn’t cover many things like when your shed floats into the neighbor’s yard or your asphalt driveway ends up in your front yard. Congress finally approved more money so hopefully things will start moving.
The US side of my family has been living in NC for 4 generations and while the state boasts a lot of amazing people, the majority has been voting Republicans for too long... Their first question when meeting you is often "what church do you go to?" My childhood hero M. Jordan refused to condemn racist and backwards Republican policies from Jesse Helms because "Republicans buy shoes too." 30 years later we can see where this type of stupidity and greed lead to. Let's hope the state and the country wake up. Watching the desolation from Europe. (The other side of my family).
as a western north carolinian you know nothing about America or North Carolina. You don’t even understand what democrat or republican means. Shut your trap
You’re calling out one side like it’s a one sided issue. Both sides of the government work for the same people behind closed doors. And thinking anything less makes you naive and gullible. But what else can we expect from someone that doesn’t even live here.
@@goawwy if you look at the income inequality gap, pretty much. You’re probably one of those ignorant fools that thinks you’ll be a billionaire one day
@@goawwyUnions, employee owned businesses are two examples of how we can strengthen our society. The rich keep us fitting against our own interests (culture wars), we need to unit and rebuild our society from the bottom up! F trickle down!
I’m very thankful for the help we got after Hurricane Maria. The biggest help was with rebuilding essential infrastructure. It took 1 year to bring power back to 90% of the local population, but we still see the effects from then in our electricity bills to this day.
The area of NC hit hardest by the storm has one of the largest Lithium deposits in the world. The home buyout programs are land grabs for business interests who want Lithium (e.g.Tesla)
I’m not suggesting any of this is proper, or that any of these interests wouldn’t do that-it isn’t, and they absolutely would…but to my understanding, that’s not how lithium mining usually works. It makes no sense, they wouldn’t _need_ individual residential-sized plots of land to access the lithium there, and the destroyed homes from Helene are all primarily centered right by the river-like mostly a thin strip of land on either side, not the the broad, flat area one would need to setup aquifer pumps and brine pools. They would have to take control of the Swannanoa River, which isn’t going to happen (for one thing, that’s flowing to/from the reservoir serving Asheville). Do you have any citable sources for this? Not for nothing, my entire family is in Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and East Asheville-so I am personally invested in whether this has any veracity. I hope for their sake you’re wrong, but would very much like to have some verifiable evidence one way or the other. For now, instinctively it feels like a conspiracy theory, because I just can’t see how it would possibly make sense from the perspectives of the dastardly mining interests.
Check out the NC lithium mine map. The mines are well south and east of Asheville, Boone, Lake Lure, and the hammered areas. The tragedy of this storm is the lack of personal, state, and federal preparedness. I've worked and lived in the region for decades. Many trips through the river valleys with towns adjacent to the water always gave me a sense of dread for that one future day that finally came. This is good journalism and shows the need without exploiting those who need help.
What type of devastation? The educational devastation that led to North Carolina voting for Trump, surely? Elect a clown, expect a circus. Zero sympathy, you silly yanks voted for an apathetic oligarchy.
I was born and raised in Hawaii and live in Asheville, North Carolina and survived Hurricane Helene and am living in the aftermath. It's not about comparison, we're all getting treated like shit by the United Corporations of America.
@stellarnomad42 ay. That's true wholesomeness here. True. Aloha brahda. Wishing you all the best in this struggle. Trust Hawaii present day is a horror show if you don't even have the money to escape.
@StyleshStorm oh I know it's a horror show. It's been a horror show ever since the ha'oles showed up. Like Haunani Kay Trask said: The United States brings death to indigenous peoples.
I kinda hate when Americans compare the storm destroyed US to ‘third world countries’. It’s insulting. They get hurricanes and typhoons too. Even at their worst they need to impose on other countries with their insecurities.
Saying that there are many parts of this country that exhibit the same conditions as 3rd world countries: high poverty, broken infrastructure, corrupt local politics, and a lower standard of living as compared to "developed" nations, is a statement of fact. You should hate that this is true, and not that people are pointing it out.
@@monsterram6617 That's a bunch of nonsense. The cost of living in the US alone debunks your statement. Compare the US GDP to almost any third World country's, and say that again.
No, they aren't smart enough and many people have a vested interest in keeping it that way. Want proof? They just elected a guy who CUT FEMA money and then complained about it!
WNC folk here, thank you so much for covering the insurance side of this. So many of us have been completely dependent on gofundme's or other independent fundraising efforts. The lack of financial aid from the government has been devastating for so many. It will likely be decades before we completely recover.
You are lucky the Democrats was working to make sure there unfortunate people got relief money but nothing replaces your home. I have funiture I would glady give someone in that area, FREE! But I live in Athens Ga
This is what makes me mad about sending billions to other countries. Also why do we allow there to be billionaires? At a certain point the money should be put back into our country and the people living in it
Well we cant abonden our allies can we it seems that our funding paid off isreal beat hamas and is fighting allah screamers for us And we also need to help Ukraine However on the other hand we should tax the billionares
The federal government should be able to allocate funding to help rebuild. We shouldn’t have to depend on state, local or private funds. This is where the clarity provided by MMT is so helpful.
I swear insurance was never the right answer... ever. I swear we are better off saving our money in bank accounts, or not letting anyone touch it at all. The careless rich get covered and the careful poor robbed.
Love Samantha, I had the privilege of an interview. She knows her stuff. Well done video. Wouldn't it be nice if all that funding that goes to pay for some military expenditures would go to disaster management and climate, environmental issues? It may be in the future the government will see they have no choice in funding disaster management because of the intensity of the storms that are happening.
800 billion to fund your crazy oversized OWN military ... and this EVERY DAMN YEAR! You don't even understand how deeply indoctrinated you are, right? But yes - Europe should pay much more for Ukraine and USA less. But when you make half of the world completely military dependent on you... don't blame others for your crazy imperialism and what your absurdly huge military spending does to your own country.
here's an idea. stop building and rebuilding houses where they are always getting wiped out by hurricanes. you live in hurricane country, you shouldn't be surprised when you lose your house to a hurricane over and over and over again
That applies to places like coastal Florida or the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but nothing like this had ever happened in western North Carolina before. That area was not considered "hurricane country." Well, maybe it is now.
This is so sad. I actually cried. Unfortunately this is only going to get worse. I think fossil fuel companies and other billionaires should have to pay for every single cent of damage. Capitalism is causing the problem, so lets have capitalists pay to fix it.
i love it when people who don’t even live in the US or NC are speaking for them as if this is at all a political issue. It’s a systemic issue that non of you actually understand because you don’t live here.
I’m from Hendersonville. My brother lives in Swannanoa, my mother in East Asheville. I’m sorry you’ve been made to suffer the empty well-wishing of opportunists, and people larping as journos, but I have to disagree with you-the very definition of a systemic issue (which you are correct, in that these are systemic issues) is that it isn’t unique to one people or place, and it is deeply political. After all, political choices and motivations are responsible for shaping and breaking the systems that are failing us. What you’re experiencing is repeating itself elsewhere-in E Palestine, OH and all over the southeastern coasts, as it has been for decades, and will continue to do so. It may _feel_ new, because such disasters so rarely occur in WNC, but it’s worth highlighting how bad this is in WNC as a microcosm for how broken the systems are that are designed to serve us all. There, by the grace of God, go we.
I wouldn't dismiss objective observation. When the whole world is saying get your shit together america, they probably have a point. It is important that solutions are local, but the stubborn insistence of americans that they are special different and exceptional is a big obstacle to progress.
As a Californian I can say, the part where nobody is having flood insurance... prolly just saved them a bit of money and anger when they deny you anyways after you've been paying for it the last 20years.
Posting trump telling a lie right in the beginning is not a great start. Still watching 100%....but the 750 was an immediate credit. A start only...........
So people in america don't want to pay taxes because that's socialism and they want to be free. But when the shit hits the fan you demand support and help and criticise government ✌️
No surprise. The USA is a poor country. No money fot healthcare, education, etc.. your taxes have to help the poor billionaires
The US has buttloads of money.
If we helped regular working class Americans, how could we fund programs like tax breaks for private jets?
Maybe trump will be able to pass a tax break for the poor billionaires to buy new yachts.
@@olgakim4848There is very little money. No where near enough to go around.
The government is running a $2 trillion a year defecit.
That means they are borrowing money just to keep the country barely functioning.
You have backwards socialism In America. The corporations get all the bailouts and government help, while 99% of the population get nothing, not even functioning schools.
@@olgakim4848 The American people don't. It all belongs to an elite group of billionaires that have no allegiance to our country
You guys are full of it. Go down to the low-income neighborhoods and really look deep. Yes, the extremely rich don't pay their fair share when it comes to percentages. I will agree with you whole-heartedly. But the low-income American has learned to just sit on their asses and let big government take care of all their needs: income, healthcare, rent, food, cell phones, etc. And every bit of it is done completely legal. We ARE a welfare state.
Both the super rich and poor have learned how to work the system to their advantage to ride the backs of the middle class all the way. Until we start addressing that, we won't get anywhere.
It's wild that people trust insurance companies more than government. Insurance companies in this country are built to make giant profits off of us, yet we do nothing to really regulate them. And whose names are on all the huge new stadiums and buildings as sponsors? Those insurance companies.
All insurance is a scam. It didn't used to be, but the scam model is the most profitable.
FEMA's budget should be raised immediately to at least $100 Billion per year. And a special assistance fund for WNC of however many billions more are needed there to clean up and help people.
Find out who your state insurance ombudsman is and learn all you can about the rules insurance companies *must* follow. The ombudsman is _kryptonite_ to insurance companies!
Unfortunately it government that trust insurance not other way around as government relies way more on private companies than itself which why it getting further into debt.
Whenever someone says they don’t trust the government, ask them if they’re willing to put more trust in private companies.
Private equity is just rubbing it's fingers together in anticipation of the windfall it will have.
TranslаtЕ!
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
Translаte!
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
/.
😊😊
Asheville is a desirable (home) investment, just like Lahaina…remember that disaster?
@@keithfoundfundid private equity start to buy homes in Hawaii after the fires?
North Carolina needs to create laws to block private equity from buying up businesses and land in these impacted areas before it's too late otherwise there will never be a recovery.
Sadly, nothing will be done because human suffering is profitable.
you are right
Not with that sheepish attitude.
Yes profits for the ultra rich Because people keep PAYING into insurance companies that get riches ... write to ban insurance companies
Yes because insurance companies are getting PAID by PEOPLE ... ban all Insurances in America as they are not ACTUALLY HELPING PEOPLE
You can do something, join a union if you can and focus on your local politics, those things affect you directly everyday and you can meet and speak with local government face to face. Attend your council meetings on the issues important to you. You're an American, and our founders gave us the right but also the responsibility to be active in our governance. I think most people would be surprised at what you can get done just by showing up. Have an impact where you can within your means, because a thousand ants will eat an elephant, as the proverb goes. And if you're truly effed, we as Americans can always be Luigi. That is what the 2nd Amendment is meant for.
Always plenty of money for war but never enough to help our own citizens. Disgraceful and pathetic.
Public Assistance Grants. FEMA has obligated more than $292 million for 47 grants to support the Tropical Storm Helene recovery in North Carolina.Dec 9, 2024
North Carolina Faces the Effects After Republican Legislators Blocked Resilient Building Codes, Losing Millions in FEMA Funding
RALEIGH
A year after legislative REPUBLICANS blocked the implementation of more resilient building codes, the financial consequences across North Carolina are becoming clear. Communities across the state missed out on an estimated $70 million in federal FEMA funds this year due to the Republican veto override of HB 488 in 2023. Access to affordable homeowners insurance will become more scarce in many areas as well due to Republicans and special interest blocking new resilient building codes.
“Legislative Republicans moved North Carolina backward by recklessly blocking new building codes that would require new homes to be more resilient and efficient,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “As a result, it will become harder to find home insurance and we’re missing out on tens of millions of dollars in federal recovery funds. That’s a lose-lose for our state, particularly when storms hit.”
And then North Carolina voted for Republicans again
You got what you voted for.. hope you’re happy because you only seem to care about yourselves so pick yourselves up by your bootstraps mo fos
And people just voted in a government that is going to make it 1000x worse.
War and illegal immigrants
helping our own citizens is SoCiAlIsM
They should have their OWN insurance. There is always an answer ….
Many areas of Appalachia have been like "third world countries" for decades due to economic reasons. How can people recover when they had almost nothing already?
This area isn’t one of them (some Helene hit areas are, but the ones in this video are largely wealthy, even if the most impacted individual residents aren’t). A 1BD apartment is the River Arts District can run well over $1500/mo.
@@silverXnoise
That’s normal rent nowadays, it’s that bad now with landlords these days.
And op ain’t wrong, Appalachia is the poorest region outside the native reservations. But at least the reservations have sovereignty of some kind
And they consistently vote against their own self interest because they buy the garbage that republicans are selling. Just look where it has gotten them. And they will turn around and vote for trump.
True
Asheville wasn't a destitute Appalachia town.....have you done any homework or are you just spouting nonsense?
Why just the oil companies? Straight up we need to tax billionaires of all types.
It's propaganda
They'd just pass it on to us. Prices for everything would increase. Taxing billionaires and raising min wage would stop that.
@@NAC_Exec It's hilarious that this sort of cope is exactly how we're in this situation. They have enough money, PERSONALLY, to buy and sell your ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD in the snap of a finger, but you're so worried about prices being passed along. GUESS WHAT DINGBAT - WHY DO YOU THINK THEY'RE RICH TO BEGIN WITH? Because they don't give you a good deal. Because they want to screw you out of money. And all you can do is bend over and take it, too scared of propaganda about price raises.
Regulations to stop them from screwing us, and taxes to ensure at least their unchecked riches go to public services instead.
We can fix this problem, but it starts at realizing that billionaires NEED to be made LESS POWERFUL, and that the only way to do that is to take their money.
@@NAC_Execno it won’t .
Can’t fix stupid, and people are dumber, than progress anticipated.
Taxes and inflation devastate the middle and the poor class, either way, so genius what is your suggestion, and not just shooting down the idea
After Katrina, you're really shocked as to how government and private insurance falls so far short than what is needed?
Translate,
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
Yep, another chapter of The Shock Doctrine
It's by *design*
It shouldn’t be shocking to you or anyone, with all due respect …many people have spoken out over at least 2 decades about, income inequality, corporate consolidation industries, concentration of financial markets , …Trump carved out 155 billion from FEMA in 2019…Elizabeth Warren dug in to fight it but to no avail…as Trump enters office, with Musk in toe ..are going gut the entire safety social net
And you won’t have to worry about inflation next year because the global economy will collapse..it had already begun in the EU with Germany and France on the ropes..US stave off collapse in the near term , but we can’t escape it. Some are saying it could a historic collapse
Americans have to wake up…be an active participant in your rescue
'Insurance' is always fraudulent. That's why we gotta free our boi Luigi
I remember researching the funding for Katrina recovery. It was like ten cents on thr dollar left after all the rapacious contractors got through with it. This is just capitalism, folks. It's what we want apparently. We vote like we love billionaires more than our neighbors. Especially in the South.
amen
" From every crisis comes an opportunity" basically
And what happens when billionaires stop bills that fund the government that included money for FEMA
Um, maybe communities will help themselves just like they have done throughout the history of the country. FEMA is a relatively recent government agency.
@@Steve-Richter Psst, paying taxes into a big pot of money that is distributed through the government when people need help due to disasters IS communities helping communities. Americans helping Americans. Done right, it is the most efficient method, because it means that everyone pays a very little bit every year instead of people who are also hit by the same disaster having to help when they themselves are also struggling under the effects of the same disaster.
I'm sure communities are helping each other in all the ways they can, but if your entire settlement has been wiped out "helping yourself" might be a bit tricky.
They deserve what they voted for!
Yep. Trump exploited their suffering to point out the current administration's failings, and then he and his bff Elon turned around and blocked the money earmarked in the continuing resolution for those affected by Hurricane Helene.
@@vf1923 lmao look at you explaining 1+1 to the short bus kids😂😂😂😂
you guys are some of the best journalists I have ever seen.
Translate,
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
Translаte!
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
/.
Agreed
Was up there last week. People are doing their best. The scale of the devastation is unthinkable, though.
One correction: FEMA is NOT GONE. There's permanent offices up there, now.
FEMA is stopping some things like housing in hotels for the displaced and some of the food distribution efforts. The community is preparing to do what we can to keep trying to sustain those most impacted
www.fema.gov/press-release/20241213/fema-extends-transitional-sheltering-assistance-program
@@Phantomdani I'm sure trump will fix it. LMFAO. FAFO.
@@Phantomdaniwell the republicans should’ve let fema funding bill pass because they blocked it
@@Phantomdani Right. That's how communities in the developing world have to deal with disasters too.
Hi, North Carolinian here! FEMA is helping people far more than just the $750, that's just the minimum if you've been effected in any way. BUT FEMA is SUPER underfunded!!! Their total budget for the entire YEAR is $20bil, helene alone caused (you stated) $54bil in damages!!! They want to help, but literally don't have the funds! And Trump wants to defund FEMA more!!! 😡
Trump hasn’t been in office the past 4 years though. I’m sure the Biden administration could have increased it but they didn’t.
They ort to defund your internet
@@Trackman71 Who controls congress and the purse? Trump is telling them not to vote on bills! Are you not paying attention?
@@chodechotchney5331 Ort? 😂😂 Stay off of social media!
@@Trackman71 you're part of the problem. President-elect Musk and Vice President-elect Trump just tried to nuke the continuing resolution for our federal budget because they wanted to REMOVE FEMA budget increases. Pay attention. Do better.
You got what you voted for America. It's only going to get worse.
The Democrats fucked this up
Already is. The Dems don't even realize they lost. They're still pushing extreme right wing actions, trying to be more anti-American to entice voters from tRump. LOL
This is happening under the current admin, the longer we keep acting like this is exclusive to one side the longer this will persist.
It’s been the same for every disaster. That’s what we got. Katrina, CA fires, Puerto Rico. Congress has to increase funding and FEMA will still only be able to to do so much. I’m sure administration can improve effectiveness. People say there is some graft in contracts (like everywhere forever) that might get cut out. Congress decides how much money is available and how big an agency is.
@@wafflecone_wombatdrone You're right. This is a systemic problem with a failing, corrupt federal government.
I’m going to need people who would like to be rescued during disasters to support taxing the wealthy. Otherwise, they should just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and remain quietly content.
Surely, a red state doesn’t think FEMA should use tax dollars to help them when they don’t like taxes. That would be insanity.
It's the typical "it's not a problem until it impacts me directly"...
The thing about calling a whole state for one or the other is that it ignores the impact of gerrymandering to shut out the voice of the true majority. It is sad, and will only get worse as our educational system and basic understanding of the us constitution continues to fade. And as poison in the food, water, and air continually worsens people’s cognitive abilities to think critically, or escape survival mode to look up and pay attention at all.
I agree tax the rich, and so many common sense things we should be doing… but as a person living in Asheville, I just want you to know that we (the working class) agree on more than we disagree. There’s just all these traps people are falling into… including experiencing Helene and the impact on peoples ability to vote… and the shady changes in laws they were making even before Helene… like changes to make it harder for the university students to vote for example…
Classic. O and let’s not forget MAGA conspiracy theorists that prompted armed ‘militias’ to go around hunting FEMA workers either, huh? I guess low taxes are great until you need your government, and then it’s cries of this is a disgrace and so on. When will Americans wake up to the fact that higher taxes, especially for the well off and wealthy, are worth it if you get cheaper healthcare and disaster relief, like the rest of the civilised world? Red pilled indeed.
So, people want less government, less taxation, don't "believe in" the sciences that prove global climate changes, but want one department (FEMA) of the federal government to be funded and staffed to be able to give 100% assistance until everything is fixed in the event of natural disasters. Throughout the USA. Have I got this right? 🧓💙🇺🇸
@@klee88029 you got it, but I would add this aid should only be available to red states, according to MAGA delusions. 😅
If Elon has his way, NC will never recover.
Love all America's billionaires that have the means but sit and laugh at us. Luigi just makes sense
Luigi is unlikely to go free unless some foolish person tries to break him out.😅
Try billionaires.
Yeah, that's what I don't get. I mean, if you were sitting on a giant mountain of cash, and you had the means to aid your fellow citizens in their most dire of circumstances, and you chose not to... what kind of callous, self-absorbed vulture would you be, really? Elon Musk could fix this with the change he finds down the back of his couch. The good billionaires could do with the resources they have at their disposal is immeasurable, but they absolutely don't care. "Oh no. Some peasants are living in a tent because their homes and livelihoods washed away in a flood? That's sad. Hey, have you seen my new yacht?!"
He was also charged with terrorism but Dylan Roof was not.
@@track1949 True. But there's an awful lot more desperate and angry gun owners in the US than there are CEOs.
The 1% will never pay their fair share unless we force them to this is why we need to get billionaires out of our politics
2,898,424 North Carolinan voters think we need smaller government though, even as FEMA closes up their showering facilities. Yes, propaganda works, but also North Carolinan MAGAts hate their neighbors or are too stupid to see that conservatism is not the way forward.
Globally, if you make 32,000$ a year, you're in the top 1%.
You can thank the SC for that.
It astounds me how miles and miles can be flattened, totally ruined, and people expect it to be all fixed up, back to normal, 3000 houses built and furnished, all the streets and bridges repaired or replaced, all the mess gone, the hundreds of thousands of downed trees cut up and carried away to somewhere. schools and hospitals and workplaces rebuilt and functioning, all in a few months' time as if it never happened. Get real, people. Without a caring society you wouldn't even have the tents you're sheltering in (and cursing daily), the shoes on your feet, and the food you're eating. What's more, this is going to keep on happening because of 80 years of denying climate change and refusing to make even the smallest changes to try to soften some of this harm that 99+ % of scientists assured us was coming. I realize this comment is going to make a lot of people furious but People, denying reality is what made all this happen. It won't even BEGIN to stop getting worse until decades after we start making the necessary changes for our survival. Do you care or not?
And look who they all voted for!! And who they keep voting for h for!
@@marksherman1887 Biden is STILL the President. Harris is STILL the VP. Where are they? What have they done? Very little.
What caused the glaciers to melt that left all those beautiful mountains? No humans burning fossil fuels back then.
Facts dont care about Feelings. Trump forever lmao😂😂😂. This is what the people voted for ... bask in the profits over people Zeitgeist.
Yes, it's been hot before but there were few humans.
The length of time it took for those previous climate changes to occur could be several centuries. Not the 150 years or so it's taking this time.
Now this is REAL journalism. Thank you!
Because we have ignored the effects of rising CO2 on our climate, we will now have to look at relocating entire communities. Rebuilding or building towns and cities right next to rivers or on the coast is pointless. No more flood insurance should be provided to owners of places like Mar a Lago and the government needs to provide assistance to those of us in the 99% to assist with relocation to higher ground.
You don’t get a functioning government without a functioning tax system. It’s really that simple. You guys keep getting what you vote for. Agree that mass relocations is the only feasible solution now, but this means higher taxes across the board. A society in which everybody isn’t paying their fair share is a society that goes into rapid decline, and then fails.
We have been warning of these types of weather catastrophes for 50+ years. There is no way FEMA or any other agency will be able to handle what is coming. Sadly, every time someone signs a royalty check from an oil company they are saying, "Drill baby drill". We could have changed our ways, but once again, money wins and the poor lose.
If by the poor you meant not multi millionaire yeah... constantly voting for Republicans who run on racism, guns and trans fear eventually you are the minority. Lmao Trump forever!!!!!
They literally chanted “drill baby drill” at the most recent Republican National Convention. This was an important election for changing course on climate change, and the dems fumbled it.
And they will continue to vote republican.
Over 2.7 million North Carolinians voted for Harris. She lost by less than 200k votes.
It happened in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria hit and they were abandoned by trump. No electricity, water, people dying. Yes, sad
Aw, come on, he tossed paper towels...
Aw come on trump was tossing paper towels that surly helped right
It’s always funny when politicians act appalled when government funded organizations don’t (can’t) help people enough when the policitans are the ones who put forward legislation that can give the orgs more money to actually help people
This. They voted in small government conservatives. This is the result (the shower tents packing up, the debris remaining). 2,898,424 NC voters chose Trump AFTER the hurricane.
@@SpeakerWiggin49EXACTLY. They want small government and then wonder why, and cry foul about it, when that what’s they get! Tax cuts are all well and good until you are desperate and need government programs to be properly funded, huh?
@@SpeakerWiggin49think they stole it. it makes more sense. the dem governor was voted in with about 70% of the vote or something. but then they vote for trump? sus as f
Climate change will keep making things more expensive everywhere and any risk management agency will struggle. There isn't funding to rebuild entire cities every few years. The money is spent elsewhere. Yet the US people voted for the party that is promising policies that help the ultra wealthy instead of the people that helped unions stay strong and funded local infrastructure.
Did people expect the recovery to be overnight? This storm turned a good portion of this country into a 3rd world country. Asheville is the new post Katrina New Orleans.
FEMA is underfunded by the Republican Party and their voters keep voting them into office!
Expect exponentially increasing extreme weather events until the end of the fossil fuel industry.
And Congress has the audacity to think they need a raise!
israel and Ukraine needs money. hahhhhhhhhaaaa. 😂😂😂😂😂😂.these people have the audacity to criticize china. what is wrong with these people
@@stanlee6487they do need money are we gonna abonden our allie
This is peanuts. The real issue is a shrinking tax base. Nobody wants to pay taxes for a functioning government and then cry foul when they need, that’s right, a functioning government! But I’m sure Trump will sort all this out for you guys. SMH. In the rest of the developed world people understand that higher taxes are in fact a form of social insurance: with proper public funding (ie. a fair and realistic tax system) you get public healthcare, disaster relief and reconstruction, infrastructure, social and affordable housing, disability programs, old age pensions, unemployment benefits that are indefinite and cover you UNTIL you find another job! If everybody pays their fair share in tax society works, for EVERYBODY. If everybody is trying to rort the system it fails, and only the rich benefit. You get what you vote for, pretty much.
Misinformation
Wow, I feel for these people. Maybe there would be more FEMA money if corporations and billionaires paid their fair share of taxes? And I’m sure that the guy that this state voted in as the next president will be happy to help you out (drill baby drill, and btw oil companies, for a billon dollar donation to me I’ll get rid of all of your regulations- at least the few that are left).
This is America. We do not help each other we are here to keep the wealthy happy. Welfare is only for corporations, not people.
I truly hope someone watching this can make a difference. These people are in dire need.
Its Citizens that did everything w donations. Gvmt did NOTHING exactly like several and biden made it clear NO HELP! Trump donated at least 3 mill and got other friends to help. People donated 14000 in generators to help w heat but some police sent by gvmt stole them all. Gvmt also forbid RVs, campers, tiny. insulated living, warm, sanitary showers, restrooms. Only tents allowed! No military rescue/help period! What a regime we let run us! Not ONE corporation donated crap!
Insurance companies are design to profit so when that design is no longer profitable than they left very little choice but close. This is consequence of a for profit country where even US politicians profit more than most people do due problems they make.
The tax on fuel companies is a great idea, but you know darn well that no red states would enact that, so their people will continue to suffer.
My aunt has worked for FEMA for 25yrs after being an RN. She has PTSD as its become so surreal how the workers are NOT allowed to do what they know the people NEED. Dont blame the FEMA workers rhey want to help but must do what they are told.
Our Govt knows the system is broken and doesn't care
Wow
who would work for FEMA when they are an RN that can make $100/hr? I call BS
@@UneducatedGeologistrepublicans have been intentionally breaking it for decades to privatize everything and then you complain about the mess you’ve been openly and bragging about making
@ a lot of people don’t mind taking less money to do work they believe in, your just kind of exposing your own greedy evil mind set
i dont understand why anyone is rebuilding in the same devastated spot because IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN.
Because they get their government subsidized insurance lmao.
Nowhere is safe. Your home town is next.
This was an anomaly. Not that it might not happen. Maybe it is a new trend. It was especially bad because this is not a place usually affected by Hurricanes. You can’t predict exactly where it will happen. And for people to just pull up an start somewhere new? That won’t happen.
We have a friend in Asheville NC. They didn't have running drinking water for months after the storm. They got drinkable water around Thanksgiving. Things are still bad down there.
Congress just passed 100 Billion for these victim's. North Carolina and East Tennessee leader's have been getting in the way for many to get help too.
BS, stop getting your talking points from Kremlin social media propaganda.
Resident of western NC here. Many folks around here were very spiteful towards the federal government before. The response after Helena has only reinforced and validated their beliefs.
Those are the same people who get mad when "other people" ask for handouts.
@RBzee112 More often than not.
More federal funding mean higher taxes.
@@RBzee112Correction: They get mad when people of the "wrong" color get any help regardless.
A perspective you never see with events like this is focusing on what causes it and changing our ways to try and help prevent it vs focusing on on how do we fix it after the fact.
Hurricanes are becoming more frequent and more devastating, with the hurricane season expanding in length. This isn't coincidental or just "the way nature is." This is directly correlated to climate change.
Thanks for making this!!!
They voted to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps
What do you expect after Bidens' disasterous presidency!!
No doubt Trump will be worse; he's a puppet of privatization, but who's been the president for the last 4 years again?
Tire of this, man. We tried. More than 2.7 million North Carolinians voted for Harris. She lost by less than 200k votes, and won the county where this was filmed 67% to trump’s 36%.
Go fact yourself.
Free Luigi
TranslаtЕ!
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
Wrong channel
@FolstrimHori Wrong comment. This channels supporters are heavily pro-Luigi
NC HERE...the people are helping one another....pay attention Everyone...We have to care for each other ❤
🫂 The delusion some people are showing is scary. Good luck with everything.
Do you think under Shlump it's going to get better?
🤣
Who dat?
Bidenomics is working!
@@monsterram6617
How yo kameltoe vote work out?
@@bartdoo5757
Governor race *stayed* blue
Haw, is it possible that nobody is addressing very low quality of materials and crappy contraction of houses?
Well, homeowners are idiots. To stupid to consider building something that will last.
Great question!
And yet, just some weeks later, North Carolina voted for a negationist who was very clear about letting big oil do everything they want.
Yep, 2,898,424 NC voters thought smaller government was a good idea while their neighbors take shower in tents that ARE BEING CLOSED DOWN.
Just desserts then.
If you’re going to throw numbers, then you should also note that over 2.7 million NC residents voted for Harris. She lost by less than 200k votes.
Furthermore, in Buncomb County, where Asheville is the county seat, she won 67% to trump’s 36%.
We tried.
Doesn’t mean we don’t deserve federal aid.
People are going to continue to be fooled and disappointed until they start getting involved in their own government. Leaving it up to career politicians and corporate lobbyists because “I just don’t do politics” is childish and self-destructive. We live in a democracy. Government policies affect our lives. Learn and participate.
Not just the oil industry. The 1% could make everyone in western NC whole without a dip in their bank account.
Just Like Oprah and the Rock would have only given up 1% of wealth to house every person in Lahaina fires
Ahhh, but innate greed will prevent that. They're too busy impressing each other with their expensive toys and McMansion. You know you need at least 6 yachts and a few Lear jets, just for starters.
Spot on. The tech billionaires that just donated 1 million each to the upcoming inauguration which doesn't need the money could have shown some humanity and donated it where it is needed instead of kissing the orange abomination's ass with it. Welcome to the United States of GREED.
If you make 32,000$ a year, you're in the top 1%
Elon has made 4 billion dollars a day since the election. Imagine how much 4 billion dollars could do in NC. He received help from the government when he needed it. It would be nice to see 1 billionaire do the right thing.
Asking to donate to people who will keep denying there's anything wrong, I find that insulting
Exactly
What are you even talking about?
I mean, you're pretty much on your own once you are born in the United States. Lots of people in this country whine and cry about big government and then turn around and demand the government solve their problems. We don't know what types of insurance policies these people purchased, and many people get cheap and choose to be under-insured. People need to be fully insured on their own. My family home burned down in one of the California wildfires. My mom paid for years on an excellent homeowner's policy, and she was paid out immediately without issue.
that’s a privilege many people don’t have
The ignorance of your comment is absolutely embarrassing and you should 100% feel ashamed of it
I wish you knew how privileged and ignorant you sound right now but I know that you won't just from how you even said all this with such confidence.
@@lifewithramyaaaNo because they waste their money on Trump merchandise and then complain that they can’t afford to live
Property and Casualty is for Wind damage. Flood insurance is purely for flooding. Two different types of insurance.
Even if there was a competent response, wouldn't something like this take years to recover from?
Its just horrible that Florida gets alll the attention and money that North Carolina needs and deserves.
They are hard-core GOP people. They need to take care of it themselves. That's what they want for everyone else.
I’m not a hardcore GOP person.
Asheville isn’t trump country
Even if two thirds voted for Trump, that's still one third who didn't vote for this and don't deserve a government that refuses to help its people.
They voted for the president that CUT Fema money and then complained about it to get votes. They deserve what the voted for!
You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry.
Over 2.7 million people in NC voted for Harris. She only lost by less than 200k votes. Furthermore, in Buncomb County where most of this was filmed, she won 67% to Trump’s 36%.
I live here. We’re not happy we lost, but NC is not a lost cause and the people here don’t deserve your condescension.
Here in Alaska, we had a major earthquake not that many years ago. FEMA was not enough. Insurance was not enough. There were houses that were so badly damaged that the city had them condemned. Houses whose mortgages hadn’t even been paid in full. Some folks just literally walked away. What else were they supposed to do? Everyone suffered. The banks repossessed worthless buildings and the home owners lost their places to live and all the equity they paid into it.
Take money from billonaires. It would NOT be unjust. Those who have more than they need can be forced to assist those with (desperate) needs.
You can't serve God and greed.
According to Kenneth Copeland, you absolutely can.
@Perfidion If you want to go to Hell, then you can be greedy. For example, usury is a sin against justice, so that means that you must give restitution before a priest can absolve you of your sin of usury.
According to trump and magets u cAn
The rich should be paying more, but, frankly, nobody in America wants to pay taxes: forgoing public funding for all forms of social capital. Then they cry foul when they need a functioning government! America keeps getting what it votes for, especially in the South. SMH. It’s insanity.
How is congress gonna pay for their raises?!? 🙄
They were voting for more disaster relief so there would be more to help these people! The raise was only a 3.9% cost of living adjustment which of course the billionaires and their bootlickers are against because you want to keep the government bending to the elites and crest
this is propaganda the raise posted on X is a lie the real things in the bill would have prohibited musk from earning more money so he ginned up lies to get people on his side did you know he owns X and controls all the info he put out on there?
How can prepare for weather changes when we don’t even acknowledge them.
If only the us used 1 % of its military budget for social programs, there wouldn't be poverty.
California, Texas, and New York will pay for it as always.
The corporations would pass the cost down to the consumer. Government is the problem, they mismanage everything
Maybe they should stop voting against their best interests (i.e., voting Republican).
Harris lost the state by less than 200k votes. Over 2.7m North Carolinians voted for her.
I worked with several families after Hurricane Katrina who were bused to Nashville. One family spent 8 days on a bridge. Please remember that things will not immediately do back to normal. Parts of NOLA are still abandoned.
Rebuilding will take several years. That’s how it is.
We live next to a creek that is dry 10 months a year. After a weekend of rain, the creek flooded a neighbors house and it took 2 years to redo their house. We all have flood insurance because of a spring fed creek.
Some of these families may need to move to a different location.
It’s hard and it costs a lot. FEMA doesn’t cover many things like when your shed floats into the neighbor’s yard or your asphalt driveway ends up in your front yard.
Congress finally approved more money so hopefully things will start moving.
hello Dear, I Usually love your comments on this channel, complement of the season 🎄 🎁 How are you doing today?
The US side of my family has been living in NC for 4 generations and while the state boasts a lot of amazing people, the majority has been voting Republicans for too long... Their first question when meeting you is often "what church do you go to?" My childhood hero M. Jordan refused to condemn racist and backwards Republican policies from Jesse Helms because "Republicans buy shoes too." 30 years later we can see where this type of stupidity and greed lead to. Let's hope the state and the country wake up. Watching the desolation from Europe. (The other side of my family).
How manay times yo boi *Coopa* visit thurr?
Translate,
Ndisanda kuthumela ividiyo ehlekisayo yomfazi ekhala malunga nenja jak ibekwe phantsi on my home!
as a western north carolinian you know nothing about America or North Carolina. You don’t even understand what democrat or republican means. Shut your trap
@@RandomName641-z4c
Twanslate , *HUH?*
You’re calling out one side like it’s a one sided issue. Both sides of the government work for the same people behind closed doors. And thinking anything less makes you naive and gullible. But what else can we expect from someone that doesn’t even live here.
Eat the rich
So everyone is poor? That's stupid!
@@goawwy if you look at the income inequality gap, pretty much. You’re probably one of those ignorant fools that thinks you’ll be a billionaire one day
Bwahaha
@@goawwy
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
@@goawwyUnions, employee owned businesses are two examples of how we can strengthen our society. The rich keep us fitting against our own interests (culture wars), we need to unit and rebuild our society from the bottom up! F trickle down!
In the 90’s the Government and the state sued the tobacco companies. 😮
Probably just because they missed a bribe payment
You get what you vote for!
I’m very thankful for the help we got after Hurricane Maria. The biggest help was with rebuilding essential infrastructure. It took 1 year to bring power back to 90% of the local population, but we still see the effects from then in our electricity bills to this day.
Fema still dealing with Hurricane Katrina 20yrs ago, that's insane!!
The area of NC hit hardest by the storm has one of the largest Lithium deposits in the world. The home buyout programs are land grabs for business interests who want Lithium (e.g.Tesla)
I’m not suggesting any of this is proper, or that any of these interests wouldn’t do that-it isn’t, and they absolutely would…but to my understanding, that’s not how lithium mining usually works. It makes no sense, they wouldn’t _need_ individual residential-sized plots of land to access the lithium there, and the destroyed homes from Helene are all primarily centered right by the river-like mostly a thin strip of land on either side, not the the broad, flat area one would need to setup aquifer pumps and brine pools. They would have to take control of the Swannanoa River, which isn’t going to happen (for one thing, that’s flowing to/from the reservoir serving Asheville). Do you have any citable sources for this?
Not for nothing, my entire family is in Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and East Asheville-so I am personally invested in whether this has any veracity. I hope for their sake you’re wrong, but would very much like to have some verifiable evidence one way or the other. For now, instinctively it feels like a conspiracy theory, because I just can’t see how it would possibly make sense from the perspectives of the dastardly mining interests.
Check out the NC lithium mine map. The mines are well south and east of Asheville, Boone, Lake Lure, and the hammered areas. The tragedy of this storm is the lack of personal, state, and federal preparedness. I've worked and lived in the region for decades. Many trips through the river valleys with towns adjacent to the water always gave me a sense of dread for that one future day that finally came. This is good journalism and shows the need without exploiting those who need help.
The mines don't need house plots.
Next big issue: the property value in the area _easily_ exceeds _any_ potential mining value. Why settle for so much less?
NC should strike a deal with Elon.
What type of devastation? The educational devastation that led to North Carolina voting for Trump, surely? Elect a clown, expect a circus. Zero sympathy, you silly yanks voted for an apathetic oligarchy.
Stop funding wars and keep the money here for the people
This is why I didn't say much about the Firestorm disaster in my home state of Hawaii because you Mainlanders usually get it far worse.
I was born and raised in Hawaii and live in Asheville, North Carolina and survived Hurricane Helene and am living in the aftermath. It's not about comparison, we're all getting treated like shit by the United Corporations of America.
@stellarnomad42 ay. That's true wholesomeness here. True. Aloha brahda. Wishing you all the best in this struggle. Trust Hawaii present day is a horror show if you don't even have the money to escape.
@StyleshStorm oh I know it's a horror show. It's been a horror show ever since the ha'oles showed up. Like Haunani Kay Trask said: The United States brings death to indigenous peoples.
I kinda hate when Americans compare the storm destroyed US to ‘third world countries’. It’s insulting. They get hurricanes and typhoons too. Even at their worst they need to impose on other countries with their insecurities.
Stay in yo lane non US
Saying that there are many parts of this country that exhibit the same conditions as 3rd world countries: high poverty, broken infrastructure, corrupt local politics, and a lower standard of living as compared to "developed" nations, is a statement of fact. You should hate that this is true, and not that people are pointing it out.
@monsterram6617
Dat otha person don't know
@@monsterram6617 That's a bunch of nonsense. The cost of living in the US alone debunks your statement. Compare the US GDP to almost any third World country's, and say that again.
Thank you for your much needed content!
If you’ve ever used fossil fuels, you’ve no room to complain. Do you realize how crazy that statement is?
No, they aren't smart enough and many people have a vested interest in keeping it that way. Want proof? They just elected a guy who CUT FEMA money and then complained about it!
WNC folk here, thank you so much for covering the insurance side of this. So many of us have been completely dependent on gofundme's or other independent fundraising efforts. The lack of financial aid from the government has been devastating for so many. It will likely be decades before we completely recover.
You are lucky the Democrats was working to make sure there unfortunate people got relief money but nothing replaces your home. I have funiture I would glady give someone in that area, FREE! But I live in Athens Ga
There seems to be some serious neglect about mentions of federal aid bills that the republicans have refused to discuss.
This is what makes me mad about sending billions to other countries.
Also why do we allow there to be billionaires? At a certain point the money should be put back into our country and the people living in it
Well we cant abonden our allies can we it seems that our funding paid off isreal beat hamas and is fighting allah screamers for us
And we also need to help Ukraine
However on the other hand we should tax the billionares
The federal government should be able to allocate funding to help rebuild. We shouldn’t have to depend on state, local or private funds. This is where the clarity provided by MMT is so helpful.
I swear insurance was never the right answer... ever.
I swear we are better off saving our money in bank accounts, or not letting anyone touch it at all.
The careless rich get covered and the careful poor robbed.
The powers that be rob the savers with the printing press inflating away the fruits of your labor.
And some look at the devastation and simply think "how can I use this to put more money in my pockets?"
Love Samantha, I had the privilege of an interview. She knows her stuff. Well done video. Wouldn't it be nice if all that funding that goes to pay for some military expenditures would go to disaster management and climate, environmental issues? It may be in the future the government will see they have no choice in funding disaster management because of the intensity of the storms that are happening.
300 billion dollars to fund the war machine in Ukraine probably could’ve helped these people a lot .
800 billion to fund your crazy oversized OWN military ... and this EVERY DAMN YEAR!
You don't even understand how deeply indoctrinated you are, right?
But yes - Europe should pay much more for Ukraine and USA less. But when you make half of the world completely military dependent on you... don't blame others for your crazy imperialism and what your absurdly huge military spending does to your own country.
here's an idea. stop building and rebuilding houses where they are always getting wiped out by hurricanes. you live in hurricane country, you shouldn't be surprised when you lose your house to a hurricane over and over and over again
Plot Twist: Climate change means the areas that _aren’t_ hurricane country will gradually shrink over time.
That applies to places like coastal Florida or the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but nothing like this had ever happened in western North Carolina before. That area was not considered "hurricane country." Well, maybe it is now.
@@bodaciouscowboyAsheville is basically built in a 100 year flood plain
This is so sad. I actually cried. Unfortunately this is only going to get worse. I think fossil fuel companies and other billionaires should have to pay for every single cent of damage. Capitalism is causing the problem, so lets have capitalists pay to fix it.
That scrap wood they were tossing in the dumpster looked like firewood or even possibly material for a shanty to replace a tent.
Thank you MPU
I love how yall think being more green will fix this, when you really should be targeting the dam insurance brokers
Both and
So it's a mess because only 1% had insurance.
i love it when people who don’t even live in the US or NC are speaking for them as if this is at all a political issue. It’s a systemic issue that non of you actually understand because you don’t live here.
people are literally blaming it on republicans as if NC hasn't been a democratic state for so many years...
I’m from Hendersonville. My brother lives in Swannanoa, my mother in East Asheville. I’m sorry you’ve been made to suffer the empty well-wishing of opportunists, and people larping as journos, but I have to disagree with you-the very definition of a systemic issue (which you are correct, in that these are systemic issues) is that it isn’t unique to one people or place, and it is deeply political. After all, political choices and motivations are responsible for shaping and breaking the systems that are failing us.
What you’re experiencing is repeating itself elsewhere-in E Palestine, OH and all over the southeastern coasts, as it has been for decades, and will continue to do so. It may _feel_ new, because such disasters so rarely occur in WNC, but it’s worth highlighting how bad this is in WNC as a microcosm for how broken the systems are that are designed to serve us all. There, by the grace of God, go we.
I hope you and your family are some place safe and warm, and that this gets better soon. ☮️
I wouldn't dismiss objective observation. When the whole world is saying get your shit together america, they probably have a point. It is important that solutions are local, but the stubborn insistence of americans that they are special different and exceptional is a big obstacle to progress.
@@chrisgg80 NC has a Super Majority Republican led state house that has all the power. You should do some research before you post stupid 💩
As a Californian I can say, the part where nobody is having flood insurance... prolly just saved them a bit of money and anger when they deny you anyways after you've been paying for it the last 20years.
These people are out here doing some of the best work in modern media
Posting trump telling a lie right in the beginning is not a great start.
Still watching 100%....but the 750 was an immediate credit. A start only...........
So people in america don't want to pay taxes because that's socialism and they want to be free.
But when the shit hits the fan you demand support and help and criticise government
✌️
FEMA is wasting money and overspending. Time for DOGE to step in and take over
Friendly reminder that mountain river valleys, beaches, and swamps will indeed involve water. 🤪
Under new management. Good luck.