How tough are we?

Poor New York City. It's up to here in snow and ice, and you'd think the world ended.

All you hear is grousing, griping and complaining – interspersed with lots of blame and, of course, the mayor gets the brunt of it.

I'm not a fan of Michael Bloomberg, but really, he doesn't have a magic button to control the weather, although I suspect he thought – and wished – he did.

People with almost unlimited funds tend to think everything is under their control. That's the image Bloomberg has fostered during his administration, but in this case he's really up against it.

First, Mother Nature acts as she's been known to do in winter, and delivered the city – and indeed the entire East Coast – a resounding blow. In hours, the snow and wind forced everything to a standstill.

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Indeed, everything stopped – cars, busses, trucks, subways, trains and planes. The only things that didn't were the mouths of New Yorkers. There was no end to the complaining and moaning.

Hearing this nonsense, it almost embarrasses to say I'm a native of New York City. I've always thought New Yorkers were tough and resilient.

When I lived there, that's how they were. I was proud of that. I guess things have changed.

It appears New Yorkers just don't want anything to interrupt their lives. They want what they want, when they want it, and what they wanted right after Christmas – even while the snow was falling – was clear streets and transportation that moved.

They didn't get it, and they haven't shut up about it.

I heard one sound bite on a radio news report last week from a man who was furious that the snow hadn't been cleared from his street. After all, he said, he expected that streets and sidewalks would be cleared in an hour. According to him, that's all it would take.

What world does he live in?

But then again, have Americans become so soft and spoiled in their lives that there's always someone else to fix things immediately?

It seems that "someone" is usually government. If something goes wrong, regardless of the cause, from blizzards, ice, fire or floods – think Katrina – we've come to expect that government and the people in charge can fix everything right now so that we aren't too disrupted.

New York was, and is, disrupted.

The anger over the perceived delay in clearing streets is perpetuated by accusations that unions deliberately slowed their work to make a point of their grievances with the city over contract details.

If that's proven true, union officials should face jail, members should be punished and the union should be held financially liable for all damages.

Actually, if it's true, Mayor Bloomberg should fire the whole lot of them the way Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers.

Man up, Mr. Mayor.

At the height of the storm, and immediately thereafter, there were heart-rending reports of people who called 9-1-1 for help, which arrived much too late. In one instance, a newborn baby died; in another, a woman died of a heart attack.

Emergency workers did their best, but to no avail. They couldn't get through the streets clogged with drifted snow and abandoned vehicles.

While it's a sad situation, there's really no guarantee 9-1-1 responders can get through every challenge thrown at them. Let's face it, even with the all-out, unselfish efforts on Sept. 11, not all rescue attempts were successful.

Now, there are complaints from New Yorkers that garbage is piling up. Well, yeah. What do they expect when the streets are clogged and traffic can't get through? Maybe they should keep their garbage in their apartments until things get back to normal. Piling it on the street only compounds the problems.

I'm not being cold. I'm realistic.

I think the real issue is whether Americans are equipped to handle dire emergencies.

What will people do when something like this happens again? And it will.

What if a major hurricane savages the city, floods streets and subways, shorting out electrical circuits?

Would they expect immediate repairs? Judging by what's happening now, they would.

What if there was a major blackout? How would New Yorkers – or Americans anywhere – react if the power went out in their town and lasted for days?

What if a major earthquake cut off everything? It's possible.

Californians are regularly warned that when "the big one" occurs, they should expect to be without fire, police or emergency services for up to two weeks or more.

They'll probably have no electricity, gas, water or other utilities.

Stores will be out of food and supplies, gas stations unable to pump fuel and roads and bridges damaged.

Could average Americans handle it? Are they prepared for such emergencies?

I think not.

Consider that every time a hurricane is forecast, stores are sold out of basic supplies in hours.

Why don't people prepare in advance?

And I'm just mentioning natural disasters. What if – yes, what if – those threatened terrorist attacks occur? How would we handle that?

Why do we assume everything will be in perfect working order within hours or a day and if it isn't, all hell will fall on the person unlucky enough to be the head of government?

In New York, Mayor Bloomberg is taking flak.

In New Jersey, both the lieutenant governor and governor were on vacation over Christmas, so they're getting flak.

In Hawaii, the president of the United States extended his vacation and mentioned not a word about millions of Americans buried in snow.

No flak for Obama – just more surf and sun – and Teflon.