Earthquake Commission or Just Paper Tigers
Once upon a time, in an earthquake devastated city called Christchurch South Island New Zealand Bureaucratic Paper Tigers :
Tell the truck driver to move on, but his reply is he has not been paid and unable to purchase the diesel for his empty tank so he can move on. He is offered counselling, or told he could get a Red Cross grant, apply on line, but he has no computer, he could get a government fuel grant, which he has to pay back, that is if he is eligible. The Red Cross Grants are no longer available.
The community spirit is such who hear of the truck drivers plight, he receives a food parcel, kindly help from the Salvation Army, and other community spirited people.
The process of the paper war directed by the Bureaucratic Paper Tigers costs is far greater than if the truck driver had been paid for his work/ or dues in the first place, he would have bought his diesel and moved on. .
Same with the builder, eagerly sought , who can no longer build or continue repair work as the client is still waiting for the Earthquake Commission pay out, so the client can pay the builder, the builder has run out of money unable to purchase any more material.
The builder is also offered counselling and other means to cope with the after-shock stress.
Families in temporary accommodation financial relief ceases to exist. Yet still have pay the rent or mortgage on a place they cannot reside in either because of structural damage, or total content loss/or both. So costs are double, food grant for the year used up from welfare not eligible for any more so the merge provisions in the bottom of their supermarket trolley make the Wall Street protests in United States of America perfect,logical, objective sense.
The Bureaucratic Paper Tigers well paid, well funded, swamp a crippled city, with meaningless gestures, rhetoric, arrogance , strangling the people who are the phoenixes’ willing, intelligent people desiring the legitimate means enabling the rise from the rubble and ashes to re-build.
The Earthquake Commission seem to be busy doing a re-enactment of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Or it reminds one of the story of Queen Marie Antoinette who said to a starving population “Let them eat cake” if there was no bread. Neither could be made there was no flour or means to achieve cake or bread.
