This and that: State investments, private aid, preacher's view

State Treasurer Sarah Steeleman issues a weekly office performance report. In the Sept. 8 -14 report, the investment division reported:

Interest earnings -- $1,889,805

Average portfolio book value -- $2,969,234,850 (that's billion)

Average yield -- 3.319 percent

State receipts -- $276,175,846

State disbursements -- $140,388,778

Electronic transfer -- 30,186

Checks issued 34,681 Checks cleared 40,244

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Item from a Hurricane Katrina-related Washington Post story last month: "John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and head of a leading Democratic think tank, says Democrats must start by casting Bush's brand of conservatism -- emphasizing an 'ownership society' elevating individualism and private enterprise -- as fundamentally flawed and hostile to society's collective responsibility to help citizens." Really? The hole in Podesta's logic is of Category 5 size. Which groups did the better job in aiding Katrina's victims: government or the loathed individuals from the netherworld of "private enterprise"? That's easy: the private sector. Government, at all levels, failed New Orleans. Paralysis prevailed in the public sector -- from Mayor Ray Nagin to Gov. Kathleen Blanco to the Bush administration. But it is the poor souls stripped of their dignity and initiative by living for 40 years under the umbrella of welfare who are paying the price.

Private wealth -- from mighty companies to ordinary people -- acted quickly and effectively:

* Wal-Mart, even before Katrina hit, had mobilized its world-class distribution network to stock New Orleans-area stores with bottled water, canned food and other essentials. It gave $3 million worth of items, $2 million to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army and had pledged $15 million to the relief fund run by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. According to published accounts, the Walton Family Foundation has donated $8 million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and $7 million to relief organizations, including the Salvation Army, America's Second Harvest (a food-bank network) and the Foundation for the Mid-South.

* Microsoft engineers, in four days, developed Katrinasafe.org, a Web site to help evacuees locate missing family members.

* IBM and Leovo sent more than 1,500 laptop and desktop computers, worth more than $1 million, to several Katrina relief groups.

* Home Depot gave $1.5 million to relief efforts. As of mid-September its employees, on their own, had given $700,000.

FDR had it right: Dependence on welfare, said FDR in 1935, "induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit." -- Rich Karlgaard column excerpt, Forbes magazine

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A letter from a retired preacher in McComb, Miss.:

What I have seen since Katrina

The poor and the wealthy hurt by the storm. Black, white, Hispanic, Oriental and Indian all hurt by the storm.

Christian people giving, giving, giving. Churches going all out to minister in Jesus' name. Neighbors going door to door helping one another. Thugs and hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vulnerable.

Ice and water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace.

People coming up from new Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are full.

Out-of-town volunteers coming with food and staying for now a week still serving it.

The churches all over this part of the country doing what Christians do in a crisis.

FEMA doing a wonderful job in getting help to us.

The Red Cross doing a great job in the shelters.

The Salvation Army doing a great job in the community.

Four hundred crewmen from everywhere bring back the power to our homes, churches and businesses.

Lines at service stations a block to a mile long.

National Guardsmen patrolling the streets of McComb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from the hoodlums and thugs of McComb, Pike County and New Orleans (the most dangerous city in the world before Katrina).

Drug dealers working outside shelters.

Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel working tirelessly, even sleeping in the hospital to do the job God called them to do.

What I have not seen

The ACLU setting up a feeding line.

People for the American Way helping in the shelters.

The NAACP doing any work whatsoever.

The American Atheist Organization serving meals in the shelters.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton directing traffic at the gas stations.

I could go on, but you get my message.

It's the Christian people with love and compassion who do the work.

The gripers in Congress should come on down and get in line to pass the water and the ice.

Boy, I feel better now. -- David A. Millican

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Importing from Missouri: Here are the top 10 buyers of Missouri exports in 2004, along with the value of what they bought and their percentage increase from 2003.

1. Canada, $3.96 billion, 28.6 percent

2. Mexico, $946 million, 26.4 percent

3. Japan, $434 million, 3.41 percent

4. China, $366 million, 40.7 percent

5. United Kingdom, $344 million, 16.7 percent

6. Germany, $271 million, 14.5 percent

7. Belgium, $246 million, 44.2 percent

8. Italy, $241 million, 29.3 percent

9. Australia, $188 million, 37.3 percent

10. Hong Kong, $187 million, 6.12 percent

Missouri exports are running 11 percent ahead of last year's record $9 billion pace, according to the Department of Economic Development.

Eight of the state's top 10 export product categories saw increased global sales during the second quarter, led by a 70 percent jump in agricultural goods, said the department director, Greg Steinhoff.

"Our geographic position, our technological infrastructure, a favorable tax structure, high worker productivity, low input costs and a consistently low cost of living are all factors contributing to our success," said Steinhoff. -- Kansas City Star

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.