Profiteering ghouls have been using debit cards distributed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - intended to buy essentials for evacuated families - in luxury-goods stores as far away as Atlanta.
“We’ve seen three of the cards,” said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. “Two I’m certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday.”
The distinctive white cards were distributed by the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and carry a value of up to $2,000.
“It doesn’t say anything on the card other than alcohol, tobacco and firearms cannot be purchased with it,” the store employee told me. “There’s nothing legally that prevents us from taking it, unfortunately. Other than morally, it’s wrong.”
The source told me that the two women who had made purchases with the card each bought a signature monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag in the $800 range.
“They didn’t look destitute by any stretch. You would never have said, ‘They must be one of the evacuees.’ … The one that I dealt with yesterday was 20. She’ll be 21 next month.” The source described the reaction of other store-keepers in the mall - which includes luxury brands Ferragamo, Burberry, Judith Leiber and Neiman Marcus - as “outrage.”
“It doesn’t say anywhere on there, but it would have to be a good amount to be shopping in here,” the source said with a dark chuckle.
Cliffnotes: The debit cards that were given to the people who were effected by Katrina are using them to buy “bling” instead of using them to buy food/clothing/building supplies.
this country must look so incredably stupid to foreigners following this chain of events
We look like such losers… Im just ashamed. they should just take a state, make it into a huge trailer park… and cart these assholes, by the truckload, into the place…
Anyone who pays $800 for a fucking purse that a 12 year old in Thailand has sown for $5 a month, is a lowlife regardless if they are a millionaire or a Hurricane “victim,” In my Opinion.
:lol: i dont think you can really say that without being a hyporcrit, chances are something you own or purchased was from a sweatshop… somewhere. granted maybe you were just trying to reflect your negative opinions on people who spend rediculous amounts of money on leather bags
you have that backward. they should take a state, or maybe the north east states, and put all the non-sucky people there… then make the rest a giant trailer part. there’s more trash than good.
Whos fucking bright idea was it to give these people the fucking cards to begin with?
How about food stamps?
WIC?
Put way more limitations on the card… thats redic. they seen this coming… they needed a bandaid for the situation and said lets throw money at them.
Put retards in charge and what do you expect.
They were given debit cards for this very reason.
Now everyone can see how ignorant these people are.
I see it as a smart way to expose the ignorance.
IS ANYONE REALLY SURPRISED BY THIS?
Edit: Keep in mind these are the same people that want to rebuild a city below sea level in hurricane alley. I see a pattern of rationalization forming here.:smash2:
This is not true.
They would not waste 2000 dollars per instance… they could have bought 200 cameras and put them up all over N.O. and the world would have known what these people were like. Disgusting people.
The people who see the ignorance… already knew it was abundant there… this isn’t opening anyone’s eyes…
Why don’t I give $$ to disaster relief?
The way I see it, scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. If WNY was in this situation and I was on the news in shit up to my chest… those are the people that would be watching (on stolen TVs) laughing at the cracka… watchin white boy swim… look at all that food he is carrying… there were TVs and stereos 3 lanes over… fuck him… he deserves it.
no one deserves it… but most of those people don’t deserve 2000 dollars either.
I think it is up to the stores to take these cards back if they aren’t used properly. You should not be able to abuse the card, or you lose your rights to it. That credit could then go towards someone buying food for their kids, or trying to pay rent…
wait a few months until we see the flood-salvaged corsicas with fresh 22"s roaming the french quarter. or the house collapsing into it’s own foundation with the grand wega sitting in the living room. or even the destitute mother interviewed by cnn that has plat caps on her front teeth while her kids are playing in stagnant water in the background.