Watch There is no such think as a natural disaster, part 1: Hurricane Katrina here first…
Onlookers were shocked at the levels of devastation as the response and reconstruction laid bare the contradictions of the imperialist free-market capitalist system. Policies aimed at aid and reconstruction became their own forms of punishment, leaving the island more indebted, unequal, dependent and polluted than it was before the hurricane hit.
Sources
- Coto, Danica, 2018. “Puerto Rico moves to privatize troubled power company,” AP.
- Marcetic, Branco, August 2017. “Before the Hurricane,” Jacobin.
- “A Lesson for the US: Cuba’s Response to Hurricanes” TeleSur, 28 August 2017.
- Democracy At Work with Dr. Richard Wolff: EconoMinute, Price Gouging.
- Democracy at Work with Dr. Richard Wolff: Economic Update, Corporate Capitalism in Decline.
- Dennis, Nelson, 2017. “The Jones Act: The Law Strangling Puerto Rico,” New York Times.
- Hiltzik, Michael, 2017. “Memo to economists defending price gouging in a disaster: It’s still wrong, morally and economically,” LA Times.
- Kranz, Michael, 2017. “Here’s how Puerto Rico got into so much debt,” Business Insider.
- Massol-Deya, Arturo, 2018. “Why Privatizing Puerto Rico’s Power Grid Won’t Solve it’s Energy Problems,” The Conversation.
- Puerto Rico Forward: Pilot.
- Simmons and Galarza, 2018. “Four months after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico struggles with lack of electricity, food and water.”
- Smith, N. (2006). “There’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” The social science research council forum on understanding Katrina.
- Yeampierre and Klein, 2017. “Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans,” The Intercept.