"On a national level, 8% of the US population lives in a household that lacks access to an automobile. For comparison the rate in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina was over triple the national rate at 26%" populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...

"New Orleans’ fate was sealed long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Through years of neglect and austerity, the federal government delivered New Orleans a verdict of despair and Katrina merely carried out the sentence." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...

"Under the current regime of cronyism trickling down from the White House, billionaires like the Ellisons are coming out into the open, publicly chasing their personal agendas." www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Conservatives love to fearmonger about SNAP, but here are the facts: - Most recipients work — or are kids, seniors, or disabled. - Fraud rate: ~1%. - Avg benefit: $6/day. - <2% of fed budget, yet lifts millions from hunger. - Every $1 in SNAP adds up to $1.50+ in local economic activity.

ICYMI our newest article in our Hurricane Katrina series traces how budget cuts, the War on Terror, and FEMA’s shift under Homeland Security turned disaster relief into a casualty of fiscal and political priorities. populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...

"The result is not just bad policy but also a cultural blindness: An entire generation has grown up thinking that extraction, as opposed to building, is the path to riches." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...

"Imagine if a car manufacturer invested in a taxi firm, which used the money to buy only that car manufacturer’s vehicles. The carmaker could claim rising sales, the taxi firm could say it was growing, and investors might conclude the sector was booming." graceblakeley.substack.com/p/the-ai-cir...

"Between fiscal years 2001 and 2005, federal funding was reduced by approximately 44% for flood and hurricane protection projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...

The Failure of FEMA: Political and Fiscal Decisions Behind New Orleans’ Vulnerability to Hurricane Katrina 🧵

"Throughout the Bush Administration, a recurring pattern emerged: the federal government wrote blank checks for the war effort in the Middle East while domestic infrastructure projects were relegated to checking the couch cushions for loose change." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings have increased 15% during the first 9 months of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.

Late-Stage Capitalism: A system so efficient it convinces you your suffering is self-improvement

"Trump’s attempts at influencing the economic data produced by the US government are clearly authoritarian in intent, and a degradation of current practices in the US." developingeconomics.org/2025/10/15/t...

"That law changed strict bright-line media ownership rules that prohibited acquisitions of local stations by chains and moved them to a discretionary system where regulators could approve such acquisitions" www.levernews.com/the-origins-...

So far in our series on Hurricane Katrina, we’ve explored how the storm wasn’t just a natural disaster — it revealed decades of inequality, government neglect, and opportunistic profiteering. populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...

"Roughly 23% of New Orleans residents lived below the poverty line in 2004, which was approximately 10 percentage points higher than the national average." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...

🧵When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, 80% of the city flooded, trapping over 100,000 residents. But not everyone was equally affected.

"Race, poverty, and limited access to automobiles were key factors that left Black residents disproportionately vulnerable, especially in low-lying neighborhoods where evacuation was nearly impossible." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...

Exploring the stories and systems that shape our world. My Substack dives into history, culture, society, and the forces behind the headlines—subscribe below for thoughtful deep dives: populareducationblog.substack.com

"New Orleans was constructed and expanded in accordance with economic initiatives that were designed to increase trade and industrial production at the expense of environmental degradation." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...

Why was New Orleans built in such a vulnerable spot? From its colonial founding to Hurricane Katrina, the city’s history shows how economic growth repeatedly outweighed environmental risk. 🧵 A thread on environment, history, and catastrophe.

"Despite advanced knowledge of New Orleans susceptibility to a potential major Hurricane, decades of disinvestment and neglect resulted in an unprepared bureaucracy incapable of delivering humanitarian aid in the moment of crisis." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...

www.theideasletter.org/essay/silico... "In Trump’s Washington, they arrive not as guests but as architects. Their reality-bending machinery—money hydraulics, platform dominance, bureaucracies kneeling to translate private fantasy into public policy—wields unprecedented force."

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/did-a-priv... The cost of fire trucks has skyrocketed in recent years–going from around $300-500,000 for a pumper truck and $750-900,000 for a ladder truck in the mid-2010s, to around $1 million for a pumper truck and $2 million for a ladder truck in the last couple years