So have you heard the latest story about the debit cards that FEMA handed out during the Hurricane Katrina crises last year? The Government or whoever is complaining because some of the purchases made with these cards have been made public and they include, but are not limited to dinner at Hooters, Girls Gone Wild videos, and expensive wines. What’s my take on it? Well clearly you care since you are still reading this entry.

Before I get into my opinion let me tell you a story. Let’s say little Joey needs to pay for the insurance on his brand new hot rod and to do this he gets himself a job at the local grocery story to help him pay for it. And fortunately for him, Mom decides she’ll give him a couple hundred bucks to go towards the insurance money because, well Joey is Mom’s baby and unfortunately he will never be able to escape from that label, even after he turns 25. Anywho, so Joey puts Mom’s 200 bucks aside for the time being to be used later for his car insurance. Now Joey is your typical teenager so he’s using his newly earned grocery money for clothes to attract the ladies and pizza because he’s darn hungry. And every once in a while he goes the extra mile and takes a girl out on an expensive date (foolish, but alas Joey is still young). Suddenly Joey is hard pressed for money this month so he goes back and takes some of the money Mom gave him to pay for his nice new kicks. However since Joey is anything but an idiot (except when it comes to girls) he tries to save a little more the following month to take place of the money Mom gave him.

So in the end Mom actually wound up paying for Joey’s Air Jordan’s, but the car insurance was still paid for. Was there any wrong doing here? Sure Joey didn’t use Mom’s money for the insurance but he made up for it by sacrificing some of his own hard earned cash.

So now it’s time for my opinion. And if you haven’t figured it out yet you haven’t been reading comprehensively. People are going to spend money on foolish and frivolous things no matter how much money they have. Money is money no matter where it comes from and any money that I obtain becomes my money to do with what I please. If I want to waste a gift in kind on girls with short shorts, that’s my business. It just means that I’ll have to spend more of my hard earned “riches” on what I need to survive. That’s how money works. You are free to do with your money what you please and I am free to do the same.

Maybe if FEMA hadn’t screwed up relief support in the first place we wouldn’t be talking about this issue today. Maybe it’s just a ploy to make people think that FEMA did good and now other people are abusing that gratitude.