Waiting for Starbucks

Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has been in the dumps, literally. Businesses are slowly moving in, even though many of the people who lived there before, have all moved back in. Because of this, many people wonder if they will have the jobs to support their families. According to CNN.com "Waiting for Starbucks", in order to deal with this problem, the city is allowing the local businesses to open first, and the national businesses later. Starbucks for instance, only has two of their four stores open, and Popeyes has sixteen of their thirty-six stores open. With the exception of Wal-Mart, which has eight of its ten stores open, many nation-wide companies have not moved back in. Cooperate America is afraid to move back in because they fear a lack of employees and also consumers. Lack of housing and cost of housing has caused more problems in staffing because many people cannot afford to move back in, in order to take their old jobs back. Plans to sell four of the five city hospitals have been broughten up because the city cannot afford to keep them all. Because of the shortage of workers and worker housing, the number of jobs in education and health is down 42%. Jobs in hospitality are down by 35% and in trade and transportation, down 28%. Yet, with all these jobs “open”, many relocated New Orleanians are still in search for jobs. In fact, one out of every four is unemployed. But, the national companies are doing their best to help. Wal-Mart tracked down every evacuated employee and their family members to tell them they could have a job at any Wal-Mart they could get to. Popeyes has gone to such lengths as to ask FEMA for trailers as a way of housing families, so they could have housing and a job. FEMA said they could only give them to teenagers, not their employees. Robert Pollin, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute, says to tell employers to buy their own trailors in order to house the families, and then submit the bills. James Boyce, one of Pollin's UMass colleagues, agrees: "The record shows that business will respond if asked to do something that makes sense, is within its sphere of competence, and isn't financially suicidal. There's a lot of good will in this country's business sector, but it needs to be called on."

What do you think? Should local businesses buy their own trailers in order to house their employers? Do you think it would be worth it? Should the State, or FEMA for that matter, be more willing to help?