I have always wondered about this when there are disasters. I am all for the feds (taxpayers) helping out to some degree. But when I see disasters of smaller scales such as tornadoes where families have lost virtually everything but since it was only a handful of people affected there is no declaration of a national disaster. Those people may go thru just as much pain and suffering but must rely on insurance and their local churches and communities for help.
Obviously we can't hand over money and send in the National Guard everytime something devastating happens to someone, but how do they (feds) make the distiction of who needs assistance and who doesn't?
One thing to keep in mind in NO though is that this wasn't simply a passing storm where they can stay at a hotel in a neighboring town and still go to work everyday while they clean up and rebuild. It may be months before they can go back to where their homes were. They don't have any jobs to go to even if they could. They are being displaced all over the country away from family and friends. They can't rely on their local communities for help because everyone is in the same situation, and their local churches no longer exist. They literally only have the shirts on their backs. Even if they have insurance, that takes months to get taken care of. Plus it may cover their home and some personal belongings, but as I mentioned they have no jobs for their living expenses. After a while peoples attention and money will shift to another cause or we will simply lose interest in this story and there won't be the funding for all the shelters that are currently opperating.
Ideally, most of them will move on and get a new job in a different city for a while until they can move back to NO. But we all know there will be some that for some reason can't get back on their feet. Yes there will be thousands of people who will get money that don't need it or will only use it to buy drugs or alcohol, but with the volume of people that need help there is no way to screen everyone and follow them around to make sure they only buy necessities.
For all my tax money that the government wastes on things I thiink are unimportant, I don't have a problem taking a hundred bucks or so and send it to others that need help.