Steve on the Wherewithal of NOLA's Poor

Steve said: I said, "Thousands of people hadn't the wherewithal to get up off their butts and leave the city, they sat around and waited for the government to do something for them."

Do you know the meaning of the word wherewithal?

where•with•al

Pronunciation: (hwâr'wi&thslash;-ôl", -with-, wâr'-), [key]
—n.
that with which to do something; means or supplies for the purpose or need, esp. money: the wherewithal to pay my rent.

Apparently you don't or else you chose to focus on the phrase "get off their butts," much as I thought you would. The meaning of that sentence is that these people did not have the means to get out of the city. It is intended as a predicate to the argument that they were in this situation because of the dependency relationship they have formed (almost involuntarily) with the government.

That's a lot of writing in order to 'compassionate conservatize' a harsh and insensitive statement. Nice try, but I feel a bit slimy after reading it.

Says B: Who else is going to assist these folks if not FEMA?

Says Steve: Umm, how about their fellow citizens? If the government wasn't robbing us blind to pay for all your cute little socialist "programs," we would all have the wherewithal to handle these things.

Wherewithal? Maybe. But desire? Doubtful.

Says B: You sure can't leave that one up to private industry!

Says Steve: So says you, but most of the rest of us are unconvinced of that. The government sure isn't handling it well.

Businesses are generally not interested in unprofitable undertakings. And what's profitable about saving thousands of people that haven't "the wherewithal to get up off their butts" and take care of themselves?