My latest article for The Daily Beast is on Feinberg’s visit to Orange Beach and the claims process:
Nearly 1,000 small-business owners from Alabama and Florida’s Gulf Coast were packed into the Orange Beach, Alabama, recreation center yesterday when Mayor Tony Kennon asked people to stand if they had filed a claim since August 23. Nearly the entire audience stood. Then he asked those who had received any payments from the office of federal “claims czar†Kenneth Feinberg to remain standing. All but two dozen sat down. And of that number, only five or so had been paid more than half of what they asked for