The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has emphasized that most famines are associated not with a shortage of food, but the failure to get food to the people who need it, largely because they lack purchasing power. America, the richest country in the world, clearly had the resources to evacuate New Orleans.
诺贝尔经济学奖获得者阿玛蒂亚·森强调：大多数饥荒发生时粮食都并非真的紧缺，而是未能把粮食运到需要的人们手中，这在很大程度上是因为他们缺乏购买力。美国，这个世界上最富裕的国家，显然拥有帮助新奥尔良人撤离所需要的资源。只是布什忘记了穷人的存在¾那些数以万计、甚至十万计的贫困人口，根本承担不起撤离所需要的费用。