Wednesday, September 17, 2008

As the floodwaters recede, "investors" from all over the world are descending

...on the people of Ike-devastated south Texas with buckets of cash.

They resemble nothing so much as flies drawn to a corpse.

They are there, primarily, to take advantage of people still in shock over their losses, and to use the tragedy and the attendant shock to leverage valuable property away from its owners at prices far below the actual value of that property was and likely will be again.

So I have a question:

What IS the difference--if any--between someone who uses the cover of a natural disaster to enter unoccupied stores and remove usable merchandise and those 'investors' who hang around those disaster areas to try to manipulate the survivors into 'giving' their property away for a song?

Seems to me the term "looter" fits both cases quite nicely...

We shoot looters, don't we?

1 comment:

Ruth said...

A little known TX law is making it practically impossible to rebuild, and may cause properties that are left to be taken away. It sets limits on development when the beach washes away.