"WHERE THE PUBLIC SEES WAR AND NATURAL DISASTERS, THOSE AROUND BUSH SEE PROFIT CENTERS"

Little Margaret Carlson talks tough:

Exactly how the money is to be found — or spent — we don't know yet, and neither does Bush. He can't seem to stop giving speeches long enough to figure it out.

At the moment, it looks like Bush is going into the Gulf Coast the way he went into the Persian Gulf, betting on untested theories concocted by ideologues. In this case, they're not coming from neocons such as Paul Wolfowitz but from Jack Kemp and other free marketeers, with an emphasis on tax incentives, empowerment and enterprise zones, and a suspension of regulations Republicans have long hated.

Where the public sees war and natural disasters, those around Bush see profit centers. Market forces should decide whether (and who) will build suburban trailer parks as far as the eye can see while workers are paid less than the prevailing wage.
...
As we learned from FEMA's disgraceful performance, cronyism and incompetence is a way of life in the Bush White House. Does anyone think those contractors who bilked the U.S. out of billions in Iraq will ever pay for it?

Maybe the arrest on Sept. 19 of a top Bush procurement appointee, caught up in the case against the world's sleaziest lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, will shine a spotlight on White House business practices. Then perhaps the next plague to descend on the Gulf Coast won't be a tidal wave of graft. [emphasis mine]