This article is in response to questions on the Katrina article I wrote yesterday. Click here to review that article. After review the several or more questions/comments about who should pay -- if anyone for the rebuilding there, I felt compelled to respond here.
Cost of war per second ticking . . . Ticking . . . Ticking. . . . Tick tock tick tock ..
Click here to see it and then come back to finish this article.
You may also view these costs by state or community on the same site you just visited. They encourage you to download their page to your own website
Also compares
Public Housing
Public Education
Pre-Schools
Children's Health
College Scholarships
Uh, Fellow Gatherers, did you notice the dollar amount? That’s $447 BILLION and counting, more money than the second richest man in the world, Bill Gates’ children’s children’s children’s will probably ever see.
Now, guess WHO is footing the bill for that $447 BILLION DOLLAR unnecessary slaughter of OUR sons, daughters, spouses, brothers, sisters, grandchildren and fellow Americans? WE ARE! While 6’5” arrogant Osama bin Laden, on dialysis -- supposedly a fugitive, travels freely in the hills and dales of -- well wherever and, it seems the CIA can’t catch up with him, wherever he is, whatever he is doing, probably partying and planning with all of his wives and al Qaeda compadres while our troops are suffering and dying in the desserts of Iraq and for what? Oil?
As far as any natural disaster, this country has always banded together and rebuilt -- always. Federal monies have paid for natural disasters. FEMA and other agencies should have already taken care of the Katrina horror, that’s who. It is a failure of the Bush Administration that New Orleans is in the state it is in, and if we were to investigate we would find that New Orleans -- our tax dollars might have been used to repair that incident, and may have been re-allocated to pay for other “pork” pleasures and/or who knows, because the government wastes so much of OUR money, and we do not call them to book.
Let me get a little audacious, and ask the question,
WHO THE HELL IS RUNNING THIS GOVERNMENT, ANYWAY?
In case we forgot, it was designed to be, “We the people,” with the overseers being roughly
535 in Congress
Plus 9 (which I call the “Supremes”), and
an “Oval Office Administrator,” which we call the President.
The Framers always intended for the people to be the Big Bosses with the aforementioned being the servants to US, and somehow the roles have been reversed. How did that happen?
What I like about Senator Barack Obama is that he is trying to restore that mentality, which is why he continues to say, “Let us . . . “ (Review his speech here).
He is trying to engage people to return to the “we the people” philosophies upon which this country was founded, for he realizes that this country was not built by “experienced” ones, such as King George the 3rd.
It is from such that the colonists sought to escape. It was the people, the people. . . . Take a look at how many times Obama says “we” and “let us”.
Bill Clinton himself called Obama a “brilliant politician”; make no mistake that the use of these terms are deliberate to call Americans to re-engage. Remember the expression:
There are three kinds of people:
Those who make things happen,
those who watch things happen,
and those who wonder what happened.
Which are YOU?
Americans have always been renowned worldwide for being those who make things happen, in a positive way. Are we slipping?
We have got to take this country back from the politicians and big business or we will lose it, and the generations to come will have NOTHING.
So, who will pay for Katrina? We’re already paying, for our failures to do nothing, that’s what. I hope I haven’t been too harsh.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, at least 3,732 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 3,057 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 168 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, South Korea, one death each.
You may think me extreme, but personally, I would say pay the $447 billion if it could save one American life over in Iraq. Life is too precious to waste and you can't place a monetary value on it. Life here in these United States is just as valuable. The people in New Orleans haven't found theirs yet.
Comment from a Louisiana resident, Rob F. www.goodoleboy.gather.com:
"To all who have the opinion that New Orleans should be left to sink. . .Okay, lets say I pick up, leave my home, all I worked for, and relocate to 'higher ground': All I ask in return is that the next time a tsunami hits any coastline, ours are anyone else's, we spend ZERO Federal dollars in aid. The next earthquake that rocks a metropolis in California, we spend ZERO Federal dollars (everyone knows its going to happen.) In fact, lets make sure that any Federal dollars being spent there on research and planning of earthquakes be stopped because we have already come to the conclusion that its going to happen. Why sink more money into the project or that state which some project will fall off into the sea. We also spend ZERO dollars on any Federal subsidized flood insurance, even if it is for one house on a creek. If anyone wants to live along anything that floods, they do so at their own risk, because its going to happen sooner or later. Ohio? Didn't a major flood in that area just occur. . .again?? I anticipate that no Federal dollars or Federal subsidized programs participate in the recovery efforts. That is part of the deal. The lands along the rivers have flooded before and they will flood again, so lets not sink our money there either. Is it only state and local agencies that fight the annual wildfires in California. Is it only the state and local agencies who respond when a tornado wipes out a town in an area known so well for the annually occurring storms that it is dubbed 'Tornado Alley?' I would not expect any Federal dollars be spent along that corridor. How many states have potentially active volcanoes? Is it only state and local money used to dig out from underneath crippling blizzards. Doesn't Florida get hit from two directions by hurricanes.
I will be glad to go along with your response and reasoning which applies for the entire coastline and about 60 miles inland of Louisiana and a fair distance into Texas (as far as future flooding potential.) I believe every state along the Gulf Coast and many along the Atlantic seaboard would have to agree if you want to expand it to hurricane potential in general. I simply request the same logic be applied fairly across our great nation.
However, there is one thing I will admit if we make this agreement. Nothing is going to stop me from having personal compassion and empathy for my fellow Americans, no matter where they choose to live or the politics involved. . .money or no money.
Robb. . .in the middle of the deep, dark, Louisiana swamps. "
Nothing like being there, eh, Rob? Thank you for a BRILLIANT first hand comment!
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Comments: 156
Did you look at that clock, and how quickly the money is moving on it? It's sad. That's our money moving like that. Americans have got to call these politicians to book.
WE are THEIR bosses, but "we the people" seem to have forgotten it.
Politicians dirty little secret. They know it, they just don't want us to know it.
Thanks, Lainie!
Sorry about that, spelled your name wrong and as many times as people call me "Natalia" and "Natila"
oops!
As for Iraq, that is a separate subject entirely. I'm not sure why people keep putting Iraq and Katrina in the same category. I have never supported the Iraq war. However, I do not think support of one justifies the other. Katrina and Iraq are unrelated except on the National Guard side of the debate - when talking about the availability of the guard.
Sorry I haven't been around much to comment on your stuff. Things have been very hectic here. This is a good article :)
You've changed! And where is Barney! and what is going on with the campaign? Are the Elitists beating us out?
On a serious note, since I do have a friend who grew up there and can tell me first hand what she knows from having grown up there, there are ways that could have/can be corrected.
Plus, last year on March 31 2006 (don't gag) I had the pleasure of hearing Donald Trump speak at the Moscone in San Francisco (or it might have been March 30). He gave us the scoop on New Orleans and the deal the government made with him. The land is valuable, and the government WANTS it for their OWN purposes, that's what. It can be restored, if -- the key is if the right landowners can get their hands on it and use it for their greedy purposes, kick the poor landowners out and build what they want on it. Money is always the motivator.
Thanks, Shelley. Always good to see ya!
(lol) Karl Leuba and Clark Kent are looking for you!
That is the American way. We try to help those in need..... Look, we're trying to help Iraq rebuild because they need help - right? We're trying to help them form a government because they need help - right? (Or maybe we only try to help those in need that will help us by promoting agendas or giving good deals on their oil.....)
We MUST rebuild NOLA and it MUST be done right.
I still think had Louisiana been red help would have come sooner and reconstruction would be well under way.
Luxury condos and casinos , of course though.
$750 BILLION plus for the Road Home Program
Dear LEX,
The answer to your question is because those people receiving the aid have ENTITLEMENT-itis.
Did you know that typically FEMA assistance is for UP to 18 months, well here we are 2 years later and FEMA is still assisting. In fact, if you are support by FEMA you are getting an upgrade very soon, if you haven't already. You will be relocated from a travel trailer to an apartment, all still funded by FEMA aka the taxpayers
I will be glad to go along with your response and reasoning which applies for the entire coastline and about 60 miles inland of Louisiana and a fair distance into Texas (as far as future flooding potential. I believe every state along the Gulf Coast and many along the Atlantic seaboard would have to agree if you want to expand it to hurricane potential in general. I simply request the same logic be applied fairly across our great nation.
However, there is one thing I will admit if we make this agreement. Nothing is going to stop me from having personal compassion and empathy for my fellow Americans, no matter where they choose to live or the politics involved......money or no money.
Robb...in the middle of the deep, dark, Louisiana swamps.
Obviously the government is choosing not to rebuild. Where is the national outrage? The reason why there is no outrage is New Orleans voted the same inept politicians before Katrina.
Nagin stayed at a high end Marriot during the hurricane while New Orleans poor people were stranded in the super dome without food and water. Also he made an insensitive racial remarks about "chocolate city" when team building was needed between the white and black New Orleans constituents.
Also 4 other New Orleans officials have been indicted on corruption charges. Many people believe New Orleans needs to get their own house in order before they turned to others for help.
Not on Vick not on Spears not on Lohan and see what is being wrought under our collective names as "Americans" we would march on Washington and demand that Bush get out out of our HOUSE!
While we're at it we should demand that the Democrats on the hill develop some balls so that they could execute our will! Take care of home... There is a war going on in the streets of our cities... Damn Iraq!
The answers are complicated but I agree that we, the public, need to hold our elected officials at all levels responsible. Without accountability more and more money is wasted with no improvements for real people's lives.
I'll focus on a tiny piece of what's complicated. Poor people were left to fend for themselves before, during, and after the storms. Are we responsible for all those families who knew that they were living on the bottoms? Yes. They were and are the chronic poor. I'm not talking about feeling sorry for anyone. Instead, I'm saying that our society created a perpetuated lower class--people without equal access to resources like education, good housing, and medical care--just so that New Orleans and the surrounding area had a steady pool of gardeners, hotel cleaning staff, maids, etc. When a natural disaster struck, these families did not have the same means to escape or, otherwise, protect themselves as the middle and upper classes.
Some of the evacuated poor families have been fortunate enough to have been given real access to real resources in their new communities. They are fairing well for the first time; all they needed was equal access to the same resources that you and I take for granted. Now their children are taking advantage of good schools, for instance. One mom was quoted as saying that she was amazed at the sight of computers in her children's new school since there were none in their old school. More than that this mom was amazed by the sight of the principal greeting her family at the door of the school and the eager, welcoming attitude of all the teachers. Amazing.
Who should pay for the people-rebuild? Every one of us today so that we won't have to tomorrow.
What is the point in rebuilding New Orleans if there is not something major done to prevent the same thing happening again and again. Remember Gobal Warming? What does the future or NO look like with rising sea levels?
This is more complicated than just making the argument that we spend money on wars that you do not particularly like so everyone else should spend money on what you do like that may not make good sense.
What if the home insurance companies said, well you live in hurricane or tornado country, so we won't cover you? Or what if they said, you live near Mt St Helen's, we won't cover you. What if they said, you live in a big city, Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda might decide to fly some more planes into big cities so we won't cover you; I mean this thing get to be madness. There are all kinds of possibilities, all kinds of ways underwriters can figure on the "what ifs". This is madness. Rob says it better than I do, though.
Americans are brave. Americans are leaders, fighters, doers, defiers. We don't fear. We do what we want, when we want and how we want.
Every time I am driving through the Sierras and I pass Donner Pass I think about those pioneers -- I think about all pioneers, trekking from East coming out west. I look at those majestic mountains and ask myself,
"HOW IN THE WORLD DID THEY CROSS THESE MOUNTAINS? NOT POSSIBLE."
But they did it, didn't they? They were determined. They were Americans. We're Americans, and that spirit IS NOT DEAD, despite what some might want us to believe. Check out Rob up there. Kudos to you, Rob!
Modern Day: How right you are. As Trump stated, they just want to pass the land off to developers who will make profits off the land by building casinos and other commercial properties on it. It's called Commercialized RAPE!
Olivera,
Deb,
Lainie, and
Don,
Thank you!
I've always said you and Clark Kent are brilliant. You said:
"Nalika, I don't know for sure that what I read about the liabilities in the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but according to at least one Legal Scholar, the damage cause by the flooding that resulted from the levy failure is the responsibility of the levy owner. That happens to be the United States Government, and that means the taxpayers. The levy was built to prevent flooding. It was Built by us, maintained by us and failed while we owned it. We are responsible for the damage resulting from its failure. "
Part of my girlfriend's (the one who was born and raised in New Orleans) anger was that they had been promising to stabilize those levies for years and had not done it. There was also some rumours of explosions prior to the hurricanes . . . hmmm, as though the levees may have intentionally been been forced down to create a disaster with officials (government officials) knowing the hurricane was imminent and a disaster was forthcoming. She could only speak from siblings, nieces, nephews accounts and her mom's account, but that was enough for her. Who is going to believe a bunch of backward Louisianans though? Who? I would. I know her family.
The levies have all been patched, not repaired as promised, I can only hope that this area never has to go through that again.
Thanks for writing such a wonderful article.
I did want to touch on something you said in relation to what Trump said. He wanted to go into Louisiana before Katrina and tried to get the cooperation of the government without success. After Katrina, they were begging him with the promise of funding to go in there, uh huh, okay and who knows who else they were making deals with, you know?
It's all political. Check this out, and I am still scratching my head over this one. I think most people know that the governor of California is Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger; I call him Schwarzzie. Back in May, we had a major accident on one of our freeways leading to the Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge goes from the East Bay to San Francisco, and for those who don't know is the major route for most traffic coming from the East Bay to San Francisco. A big rig overturned and this connection collapsed.
Cal Trans (The California State Transportation system) estimated it would take months, possibly no earlier than November or December before this breach/connection to San Francisco could be repaired. I mean this was MAJOR to the Bay Area, but it was not an like Interstate 80. The freeway was 580, right.
Here's the key: Our governor was a REPUBLICAN.
He says, the Federal government, not California should pay for this.
Within 48 hours, I see some lady, I believe the head of FTA on television spouting off some spin about 580 to the Bay Bridge being the 5th most economically important connection in the country (of course Schwarzzie is standing right next to her) and the Feds are picking up the tab for it FOR THE ENTIRE REPAIR. California is clear and free of any repairs. 0 $$$. nein ruples for us Californians to spit out. Thank you, very much, gracias, Republican Terminator Governor Schwarzzie!
Lynn, the bridge connection is up and working in
LESS THAN ONE MONTH!
Do you see how this works, Lynn? Politics. That's all. Simple politics.
Anybody from the Bay Area, call me on it, if I am lying.
I apologize that the article was confusing. Thank you for pointing that out because not enough people do. One thing that writing class teaches is to "keep it simple", so thank you!
When you say:
"Poor people were left to fend for themselves before, during, and after the storms"
I get an image of my girlfriend's 90+ year old mother on the roof of her home as helicopter's speed past her. That is outrageous, and I am sure they could see that she was not a young woman.
You bring up a lot of good points about the disenfranchised and poor. Even when I go on vacation ofttimes I get depressed and long for the Bay Area and I am away by choice. What would it be like if I were FORCED out of my home with no end in sight of return? Well, my girlfriend talked about her mom's forced removal to Texas, a woman who lived in New Orleans all her life, like you said relocated to Texas and then moved to a trailer, wanting only to go back to her beloved New Orleans. Do people not understand that home is home, no matter where that is?
I can't go on with this, Gabra, only to say the seeds that one sows with their mouths have a way of harvesting what has been sown, and the same people who seem to say these things may one day find themselves in the place where they may be homeless. They may find someone telling them the very thing they said to another.
Payback will do that.
Thanks, Gabra!
Your statement is deep and its disturbing. Here again, though is the lesson in carefully choosing/voting in the correct officials and not just "experienced" ones. Thanks Mickey.
Hey Le:
Why? Why do you feel like that?
Shun:
Thank you and glad you are not "in cognito" if you don't want to be. Righteous indignation is a good thing, and you are correct that there should be the proper focus. I find myself very angry about Iraq, which is the main reason I cannot -- with any conscience -- support anyone who voted for that war resolution. As far as Congress is concerned, I agreed that they should be called on the carpet. Instead of denying our fellow Americans, who pay taxes, our help, we should be taking Congress and big business off welfare, ending this $447 BILLION war (there's your money to pay for Katrina and then some to go back in your own pockets) and get our own U.S. house in order. Do your notice -- Shun -- nobody is asking, who is paying for this war? Do you notice no one is saying, who is paying for all the pork spending?
It's funny. Thanks Shun.
Keith:
Hello there! Love the plane! Are you are pilot? Did you read Rob's comment? Should we not fly because planes crash, or should we not live in California because of earthquakes? Help me out; I am not understanding the logic. Thanks Keith, will you elaborate?
Jim Vee:
Since your comment needs no response, except an Amen, brother and I re-interated with my Arnold the Terminator story, I'll just re-quote it. Amen, Brother:
"The money that the Bush administration Alocated for Katrina was in the muliti Billions of dollars but only about 5 billion has actually been used. The rest is tied up in red tape(What a joke. Have you got a bridge that you would like to sell me?) Why hasn't the money for Iraq been held up? The thing that the masses don't get is that our Government, wheather it be democrat or rebublican, is controled by private interests. We have No government, people. They don't function for us, the people anymore. Our Government has been highjacked long before G.W. B. "
Hi Vickie! Thanks TTY soon!
Thanks and I hope Danielle got in touch. She sounded excited and said she would!
You are ON POINT exactly
Ty Phoon: Hello There! Good to see you again, Sir. Hey, Ty Phoon! We are the government, or at least that is what the Framers intended, and when have we ever turned a blind eye to a neighbor in need. Those 535 + 9 + 1 are not the "government", but I do agree that it not the government (our) responsibility to do "everything". Good going, Ty Phoon! Always good to see you!
Shannon:
Hi. Nice to make your acquaintance. When you say
"Who should pay? Not me, or any other taxpayer."
Does that mean you would also exempt them from paying any taxes as well, because my understanding is that most/all Americans pay some form of tax(es), which enables us to withdraw from that base what we put into it. Of course, some take out more than they put in. Case in point, some of the kids I went to school with had parents (rich farmers) who were subsidized for not growing crops on their land to supposedly help the smaller farmers. I call that a wealthy man's welfare. You and I might say, "Why should you and I pay for that wealthy farmer's welfare? I don't know, Shannon, I guess it depends on your perspective. One thing's for sure. They didn't pay taxes on those subsidies. Hey, thanks Shannon. It was nice to make your acquaintance and get your input!
Do you think it's right? It's all wrong, and see there? This is EXACTLY what I am talking about. Then, what happens to those families if disaster hits? Should we the people say "Oh no, take your families and live in a cave; we're not paying for it." There are some insurance companies that served notice they aren't offering earthquake insurance anymore. You are right, it is about the Benjamins and it is about time the GOVERNMENT (the people) called the representatives to book. I'm telling you I don't believe the original signators are resting well in their graves with what this country has become -- how could they? This is not what they intended. Do you believe this is?
This is what they left the British Empire to escape!
YOur numbers are so way off. 60 billion has been allocated to Louisiana, not 750 billion. 10 billion for the road home. and the only thing we feel we're "entitled" to is some damn levess that are built the way they should.
The only people who are getting housing assisatnce from FEMA are those who were already livingin public housing before the storm (i.e....those who'd be getting it from the govt regardless of where they lived or what the circumstances).
New Orleans is economically one of the most importnat cities in the nation. It never ceases to amaze em how few people realize this.
Besides, Levees are by law the responsibility of the ACOE, precisely because of the 1929 flood, which proved that if you leave them in the jurisdiction of local governments, then one locality will stop at nothing to protect itself, even at the expense of another locality.
It is a business and they have to answer to their stock holders. And when you are not making a profit this is what they do..
But that's the thing...the insurance industry made record profits in 2005 and 2006. Properly paying the claims for Katrina would not have bankrupted them...only left them with a little less profit. See this article for more on how they shifted the burden to the taxpayers.
the city did, and does, have a lot of people without a lot of money, resources, health care, education, and opportunity. But its people are peculiarly rich in networks, roots, traditions, music, festive ritual, public life, and love of place, an anomaly in an America where, generations ago, most of us lost what the depleted population of New Orleans is trying to reclaim and rebuild. Rebecca Solnit of zmag.org
These insurance companies run one of the biggest scams in the country. Amongst the oil companies, drug companies and them I don't know which is worst. I would like to connect to the "see this article" link you provided and come right back . . .
The American political system was founded in Philadelphia, but the American nation was built on the vast farmlands that produced the wealth that funded American industrialization: It permitted the formation of a class of small landholders who, amazingly, could produce more than they could consume. They could sell their excess crops in the east and in Europe and save that money, which eventually became the founding capital of American industry.
But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargos stored, sold and reloaded on ocean-going vessels. New Orleans is, in many ways, the pivot of the American economy.
For that reason, the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 was a key moment in American history. Even though the battle occurred after the War of 1812 was over, had the British taken New Orleans, they wouldn't have given it back. Without New Orleans, the entire Louisiana Purchase would have been valueless to the United States. Or, to state it more precisely, the British would control the region because, at the end of the day, the value of the Purchase was the land and the rivers - which all converged on the Mississippi and the ultimate port of New Orleans. The hero of the battle was Andrew Jackson, and when he became president, his obsession with Texas had much to do with keeping the Mexicans away from New Orleans.
During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. New Orleans was the prize.
The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. Combined, they are the largest port system in the world.
A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. Consider the impact to the U.S. auto industry if steel doesn't come up the river, or the effect on global food supplies if U.S. corn and soybeans don't get to the markets.
The problem is that there are no good shipping alternatives. River transport is cheap, and most of the commodities we are discussing have low value-to-weight ratios. The U.S. transport system was built on the assumption that these commodities would travel to and from New Orleans by barge, where they would be loaded on ships or offloaded. Apart from port capacity elsewhere in the United States, there aren't enough trucks or rail cars to handle the long-distance hauling of these enormous quantities -- assuming for the moment that the economics could be managed, which they can't be.
The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure. Were all of these facilities to be lost, the effect on the price of oil worldwide would be extraordinarily painful. If the river itself became unnavigable or if the ports are no longer functioning, however, the impact to the wider economy would be significantly more severe. In a sense, there is more flexibility in oil than in the physical transport of these other commodities.
The oil fields, pipelines and ports require a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. Thus it is the population that has left and has nowhere to return to that is of geopolitical significance.
It is possible to jury-rig around this problem for a short time. But those resources are not infinite -- and as it becomes apparent that these people will not be returning to New Orleans any time soon, population and workforce patterns in the region will start to shift.
A city is a complex and ongoing process - one that requires physical infrastructure to support the people who live in it and people to operate that physical infrastructure. We don't simply mean power plants or sewage treatment facilities, although they are critical. Someone has to be able to sell a bottle of milk or a new shirt. Someone has to be able to repair a car or do surgery. And the people who do those things, along with the infrastructure that supports them, are gone -- and they are not coming back anytime soon.
The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States. The area can recover, to be sure, but only with the commitment of massive resources from outside.
Let's go back to the beginning. The United States historically has depended on the Mississippi and its tributaries for transport. Barges navigate the river. Ships go on the ocean. The barges must offload to the ships and vice versa. There must be a facility to empower this exchange. It is also the facility where goods are stored in transit. Without this port, the river can't be used. Protecting that port has been, from the time of the Louisiana Purchase, a fundamental national security issue for the United States.
Without New Orleans, the Mississippi is enormously less useful than it was. It's not only the United States' biggest port complex, but also the foundation of the entire American transport system. There are some substitutes, but none with sufficient capacity to solve the problem.
It follows from this that the port will have to be revived and, one would assume, the city as well. The ports around New Orleans are located as far north as they can be and still be accessed by ocean-going vessels. The need for ships to be able to pass each other in the waterways, which narrow to the north, adds to the problem. Besides, the Highway 190 bridge in Baton Rouge blocks the river going north. New Orleans is where it is for a reason: The United States needs a city right there.
New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. In the end, the city will return because it has to.
Geopolitics is the stuff of permanent geographical realities and the way they interact with political life. Geopolitics created New Orleans. Geopolitics caused American presidents to obsess over its safety. And geopolitics will force the city's resurrection, even if it is in the worst imaginable place.
PROFOUND! Very profound. Let's wake up folks! Why are so many large cities associated with ports? Like in the Bay Area, Port of Oakland is MAJOR. So is the Port of San Francisco. Even as a little girl I noticed that major cities seemed to be associated with shipping and ports.
The childhood history classes are returning with the history lesson, Penny and the significance of the Louisiana Purchase.
No wonder the Feds were BEGGING and PLEADING with Trump and God only knows who else, and offering Federal funds to go into New Orleans and rebuild . . . hmmm.
Is anybody not seeing this?
The plot thickens. Only investigative reporters could go undercover and find out how many underhanded undercover deals were made to displace New Orleans. I only know what my girlfriend has told me and she is no dummy. She could easily see a plot to steal these poor citizens' lands.
This is outrageous, while WE their fellow Americans say -- in essence --
CRUCIFY THEM!
$447,376,222,231 but that was about a minute ago. But now it should have gone up at least a half million dollars or more. Your tax payer dollars being used to destroy lives.
Are you going to say,
"I am not going to pay for that?"
What do you think of this article?
If New Orleans were to be abandoned or destroyed, all the excess food produced by American farmers and sold on the world market would have to be shipped by rail or truck to another port for export. This would slow down the process, creating a lot of spoilage. It would also add greatly to the cost, meaning many countries could no longer afford to buy it. People in poor countries would starve, and the US economy would take a big hit from the loss of revenue.
On the flip side, the raw materials of industrialism (such as steel used to make cars), and all those cheap imported products that fill the shelves of Walmart would have to be transported by rail or truck, which would mean less products coming to market (we don't have the rail or truck capacity to handle them), and greatly increased cost due to the price of gasoline (which would also be more expensive withouth New Orleans). Americans will not be able to buy as much because the prices would be too high. Companies would then start to lay off employees, which means lesss money in the economy again, which means more layoffs....repeat.
We need New Orleans....all of us, whether we want to realize it or not.
I'll send you an email to answer your question.
Your point was crystal clear to anyone who WANTS to see the truth . . .
As far as we know, bin Laden could be somewhere playing video games or some other kind of game on the Internet. Where is he? They always seem to be able to photograph these people, but never able to catch them.
Lynn, I agree. I believe it was on the other article that someone said the same thing and it's true. Obviously Senator Obama is stating it. It is the government/our responsibility, since we -- as Penny stated reap the benefits from New Orleans
You provided a wealth of information too. Thank you.
Andrew:
You know what? I respectfully disagree. I wish we could learn his whereabouts and I believe we would . . . not I, but many would be surprised to learn he is learn quite well.
So, what do you think of us Americans, who would rather pay out, at last look
$447,376,222,231 to destroy rather than $8 to $10 billion to rebuild our country?
I should look at that counter again.
(Your writing is beautiful)
I don't have the answers for it; I don't know. I don't understand destruction like that
I do know that I can't keep up with that Iraq money counter because it goes too fast, something like
$477, 377, xxx, xxx -- it was just going too fast per second and look at when I last checked it.
I guess people don't mind paying for death, Raven Spirit.
How do you think you would handle the situation, if I may ask?
Insurance companies did not pay as they should have, and are currently under investigation via a whistleblower lawsuit for shifting far too much of the damage to federally funded flood policies, rather than their own wind policies. Good neighbors, good hands....they can say it all they want, but it still doesn't make it true. As our own beloved lcoal columnist Chris Rose said: " Insurance is legalized, government mandated gambling. The Insurance companies were happy to collect the premiums for years, but when they lost a big hand, they didn't want to pay."
As for as evacuation: no, really you can't make everyone leave. You can only try as hard as you can to get them to do so. Most of the people got out, thank God. But there were several reasons why those who stayed did so. Evacuating is expensive and exhausting. When you live in Hurricane zones and have to do it several times a year, it adds up and becomes tiring. New Orleans hadn't been hit in 40 years. People had become complacent, always evacuating then having the storm turn course and miss. Many just refused to do it again, many couldn't afford to do it, had no transportation or no where to go. Many refused to leave their pets behind (hopefully the sad site of all the stranded animals will encourage more shelters and hotels to allow pets the next time).
Though the city had those buses sitting that were never used, I don't think anyone will ever really know why, cause politicians rarely give honest answers.
By the way, I did read the article you wrote about the insurance companies, their scams, delay tactics, etc. etc. Anybody who hasn't read it should click on the link she provided. It's a good article, and very enlightening.
Thanks, Penny.
You do present a very special voice to this discussion, though. No one can accuse you of having any horse in this race. That is why I am asking. Iraq or helping home? Can you see the dilemma?
Complete sovereignty to Bush. Forgive the crassness, but I almost wet myself -- Jeff!
HUH?
But did you also hear from Andrew said, trusting or not? Home should come first. Jeff, you are as sharp as a tack. Those who sent those young people are fighting for home, yes! THEIR homes and property -- their oil and wealth.
That is not the home Andrew is talking about. For him it would be Australia. For us, it is the United States, for us, in this particular instance it should be New Orleans, all the more reason if they were trusting . . .
You know those people should not be exploited for the good of the wealthy few, and that's all that is happening. Another Iraq. Same exploitation, just a different location
"This is a federal issue and they will pay for it" I thought,
Yeah, right, Schwarzzie, when pig's can fly."
Well, guess what Jeff? I got a pig flying lesson, because the Republicans stuck together without blinking an eye and the good ole U.S. of A, not California paid to have California's freeway repaired and no body, no one single soul, not one taxpayer that I know of called their representative and said,
"I don't live in California. I am not paying for that."
Republicans, Baby. Republicans!
But Jeff, to respond to what you just said . . .
I don't have Tom's phone number, but I do have Jason's and I am tempted to phone him and ask him to get on the Internet. They have technical knowledge I don't. They know, (read the other article, read some of the comments), even talk to some of the residents, actually I have read accounts myself -- come to think of it -- that they KNEW those levees needed repairing and upkeep and ignored it. Ask yourself, "Why?" This was a federal upkeep issue, and just as Schwarzzie said about our highway, that the Feds would pay and did, the same logic applies to New Orleans. Come on, Jeff -- you see that. New Orleans, the port authority and it's vital importance to commerce is key to this country, just as our highway was supposedly so "key" to the U.S. economy . . . apples and apples. It's the same principle.
Not a valid argument. You know federal supercedes state/trumps it every time. Nope. That dog won't hunt.