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I would like some of the New Yorkers that are whining about his comments to go live for 6 months in a city that has been completely destroyed ....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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Blocking Progress In New Orleans Robert Reich February 16, 2006 Robert Reich is professor of public policy at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was secertary of labor in the Clinton administration.
More than five months after Hurricane Katrina—and almost five months of political verbiage and posturing and name-calling and blame-mongering—New Orleans is still a wreck.
Two thirds of the Big Easy’s pre-Katrina residents continue to live in exile; only a handful of schools have reopened; only a third of the city’s former hospital beds are available; two-thirds of its buildings are still without electricity. Two hundred thousand homes and business properties are in ruins.
The next few months will be a turning point. Either there will be a raft of personal bankruptcies, foreclosures and bank failures, followed by the permanent closing of much the city, or—what? Free-market fundamentalists say New Orleans just has to wait until capital and people return. But it’s been five months and they haven’t returned. Why should they be expected to?
Yes, residents and businesses moved back to Chicago after the Great Chicago fire, and they moved back to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. But the citizens and merchants who had occupied these cities before the disasters had few alternatives afterwards. And most of the capital needed to rebuild these cities came from local investors who also had few alternatives but to put their savings back into the cities their savings had been in before.
Today it’s different. People can move far more easily. Former residents of New Orleans are now scattered across much of the United States. Former businesses are gone. Capital is now global.
New Orleans faces two chicken-and-egg problems that Chicago and San Francisco didn’t have to face, and private markets don’t know how to remedy. The first is how to get people to live in places where there are no jobs because there are no people living there. The second is how to get capital to rebuild damaged buildings in neighborhoods that are worthless because so many buildings are so badly damaged.
There’s no private market renewing New Orleans because nobody has an incentive to move back or reopen a business or invest, because no one can be sure there will be enough other people moving back, reopening and investing to make it worthwhile.
This is why an idea now being pushed by Republican Rep. Richard Baker, who represents Baton Rouge to the north of New Orleans, is so sensible. Baker wants to create something called the Louisiana Recovery Corporation. Essentially, it would buy property and mortgages at 60 percent of their pre-Katrina values, package them together in parcels that might be attractive to private developers, and then auction off the packages. The resulting revenues from developers would then replenish the fund.
The developers would have reason to rebuild their parcels and generate jobs because they’d own enough property to recreate small neighborhoods and shopping areas. In other words, they could overcome the chicken-and-egg problems.
The Bush administration opposes the Baker plan, maybe because it sounds too much like government meddling in the free market. Someone should tell the White House there’s no free market in much of New Orleans to meddle in.
This isn’t some left-wing wacko idea. Baker himself has 91 percent lifetime approval rating from the American Conservative Union. Yet even he knows where there’s no market, the only way you get one is if some government body creates it.
If America could rebuild Europe after the Second World War with the Marshall Plan, we can certainly rebuild New Orleans with a revolving loan fund that will probably end up paying for itself.
This commentary originally appeared on Marketplace, public radio's only daily business news program, and is reprinted via a special arrangement between TomPaine.com and Robert Reich. Marketplace is produced by Minnesota Public Radio and is heard on 322 public radio stations nationwide. More online at www.marketplace.org
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Man, I can't decide if I love these discussions or hate them...
I CAN tell you that just about anybody that lives down here, save a select few in N.O. proper is completely SICK of hearing about how bad New Orleans has it. Everyone tends to forget that Hurricane Katrina did NOT cause the damage to that city - the levee breach and flooding did. They did studies, had federal funding, all sorts of things and warnings and the local government chose to do nothing about it. Did anybody recall hearing them scream about the security of the levees BEFORE Katrina entered the Gulf? Nope, you sure didn't....
If the residents want New Orleans rebuilt, they need to get off their behinds, grab a sledgehammer, and get to work. If they were property owners and didn't have flood insurance to cover at least the cost of materials then they were stupid....you don't live in a toilet bowl and expect to stay dry. Furthermore, I understand that many of these residents are poor - let me say I am all for helping those less fortunate than me, but I can say first hand that the folks I saw in southern Alabama with similar conditions (and yes, it was just as bad) weren't sitting on their behinds waiting for someone to do the work for them.
I understand all of the news articles and such about the chicken-and-egg theory....have any of you seen New Orleans before and after?
-------------------- Study before you buy, Sell before you think about it....
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: I would like some of the New Yorkers that are whining about his comments to go live for 6 months in a city that has been completely destroyed ....
Hey Glass what is he being harassed about? Maybe he shouldnt have ran for office again? Maybe the people shouldnt have voted him in again? Didnt he become a resident Texan days after the hurricane?
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"
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Sorry to tell you, Sherri, but yes, there was serious and extensive discussion of redoing the levees around New Orleans BEFORE and there was funding set up by the Congress to address the problem, BUT
we have a President that via Presidential order years before Katrina refused to let those funds be used by the Corps of Engineers to work on the levees in Nerw Orleans.
The levee system of New Orleans IS NOT A LOCAL PROJECT AND IS NOT WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE CITY OR THE STATE. Instead it is a small part of the overall system of flood control of the entire Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio river system and is purely under Federal control.
Put your complaints where they properly belong.
One of the reasons the destruction from Katrina was so severe is that the federal programs were distributed ahead of time to protect brother Jeb's State instead of waiting to distribute it where it would be needed.
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Why is it up to the taxpayers to make New Orleans BETTER than it was before Katrina hit it? It would cost us way less to return N.O. to status quo.
And if you're wondering what's going to happen to all the infrastructure built by our tax dollars, take a look at Houston... the apartment complexes that opened their doors and made it easy for victims are being destroyed. The crime rates in Houston are up. Murder rates are up. Rapes and other violent crimes are up. Gang warfare is up. Property values are down.
The Houston police just this year have spent an additional $18 million investigating crimes committed by Katrina refugees. Over the last year there were 232 murders in the city, and one in five involved a Katrina evacuee.
Throwing money and new housing at these folks is not the answer...
-------------------- Liberals: Tough on fetuses, soft on terrorists...
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It just goes to show that proper maintainence is cheaper than rebuilding from a failure to do maintainence.
Had the moneys allotted for upgrading the New orleans levees been used for that instead of being diverted by the Administration, then New Orleans likely wouldn't need to be completely rebuilt.
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You are absolutely correct. It's quite a curious thing that we somehow have $2 trillion to waste on a nutty war in Iraq, and we somehow had billions to throw at the hurricane victims post-disaster, yet we didn't have a single penny to sure up the levees and to fortify New Orleans...
-------------------- Liberals: Tough on fetuses, soft on terrorists...
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Remember, if you express thought and concern you're just a Commie left-wing liberal nutcase who hates America, loves the terrorists, wants to kill babies, and hates God.
-------------------- Liberals: Tough on fetuses, soft on terrorists...
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our economy can only be maintained by rapid consumption and replacement of everything in sight...
we don't even build "100 year" houses anymore...
look at PC's.... the whole market is stifled untill gates comes up with a new operating system that absolutely requires double the hardware we already have...
why is he wasting so much time developing it? LOL.. my computer is 2yrs old and it's not obsolete yet?
sheesh, these guys are slipping...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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What I cant get over is how the people of NO could vote this guy in Nagin again? He makes Bush sound like a English professor. It was no secret pre Katrina that NO had the most corrupt police departments IN THE COUNTRY. Lets just say everbody at every level of govt screwed up in this situation are you gonna vote the first responder back in? Is he the best man for the job? LMAO dont think so! Hes not even smart enough to keep his trap shut about the comparisons to ground zero.
If a bridge in the city where i lived was flawed and had years of rumors circulating that it wasnt gonna hold up, then eventually collapsed. Well you could bet you ass i wouldnt blame the friggen president! I would start with the mayor and then the governer.
I mean people make it sound like the Mayor and Governor are responsible for pretty much uuuuuuhhhh nothing
Levees broke - presidents fault evacuation failures - presidents fault breakdown of law and order - presidents fault
LMAO!! do you realize how ridiculous that is?
OH and Sherri.....IM WITH YOU BABY!!!
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"
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From what I see from my girls-gone-wild DVDs...This N.O. looks like a pretty big tourists attraction. Couldnt some of those tourists dollars have gone into rebuilding the levees or a floating casino? Oh no wait..i forot Bush went down there with an armoured car and took all those REVS to throw into the war......My bad LOL
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"
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The Mayer New Orleans and Governor of Louisianna have NO authority over the levee system of New Orleans, which is only a tiny part of the flood control system of the largest river drainage of North America. If they did anything to them, it would be a violation of federal law.
The failure to upgrade and maintain the levees around New Orleans is 100% due to the current President. The Congress and the precvious President had appropriated the funds and issued them to the Corp of Engineers, then immediately after he was in office, Bush stopped the use of those funds for the levees.
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You need to read more carefully. Clinton signed a bill to upgrade them. that wasn't done because dubya stopped it with a presidential order.
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quote:Originally posted by bdgee: Sorry to tell you, Sherri, but yes, there was serious and extensive discussion of redoing the levees around New Orleans BEFORE and there was funding set up by the Congress to address the problem, BUT
we have a President that via Presidential order years before Katrina refused to let those funds be used by the Corps of Engineers to work on the levees in Nerw Orleans.
The levee system of New Orleans IS NOT A LOCAL PROJECT AND IS NOT WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE CITY OR THE STATE. Instead it is a small part of the overall system of flood control of the entire Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio river system and is purely under Federal control.
Put your complaints where they properly belong.
One of the reasons the destruction from Katrina was so severe is that the federal programs were distributed ahead of time to protect brother Jeb's State instead of waiting to distribute it where it would be needed.
There's two sides to that story - yes, it is a federal program, but there are lots of voices saying that President Bush is the only one responsible for the diversion of funds. Do you actually think that he ignores the local offices/officials/etc from his political group in his decision making. You also think the people that controlled the day to day operations of the levees lived in Washington? No, they were residents of New Orleans. Why not raise a stink? It's too late to complain that the maintenance was not done, but I have a right to complain about my tax dollars going to an area just to shut up a group of individuals. If Nagin has the time to complain about the rebuild, he had time to be all over national news complaining about the maintenance not happening and threatening his city.
I actually got off on a rant - Harry did a better job of surmising my attitude. New Orleans was a toilet before the levees broke, and it is a toilet after...and frankly, I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to rebuild it and give the lazy SOBs anything else to tear up. You know why the MS casinos are being rebuilt? Because companies know that the people that live there are willing to work and rebuild their area - and guess what, it is progressing faster.
I just think Nagin's attitude throughout the whole thing is deplorable. He's done more to point the finger than to motivate his constituents toward anything but riots.
The other thing...the state of Mississippi seems to be coming up with ways to raise funds to rebuild, why isn't Louisiana? You mentioned the casinos....there are many casinos in the state of Louisiana that are doing just fine. They could tax the French Quarter and have plenty of funds to divert to rebuild. They may be...I don't live there...
-------------------- Study before you buy, Sell before you think about it....
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"Do you actually think that he ignores the local offices/officials/etc from his political group in his decision making."
Yes!
"You also think the people that controlled the day to day operations of the levees lived in Washington? No, they were residents of New Orleans."
False!
The people in charge are NOT in New Orleans. The "people that controlled the day to day operations of the levees" are the United States Army Corp of Engineers, whose offices definitely are in Washington, D.C.
If various localized governments or interest were allowed to impose their wishes on the flooding and flow of the Missippi River basin, it would be about as effective as allowing the various cities and counties in the country to determine the federal income tax tax rates and rules. By law, the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisianna CANNOT make alterations to the flood control system of the River and they have no say in the funding for it.
Your claims about the locals rebuilding in Alabama and Mississippi is wonderful. It isn't a fact though. Most of the damage has NOT been corrected and most of it was NOT due to weeks of flooding from failed levees that did not get upgraded because dubya didn't allow it.
You don't like Nagin. That you have made clear.
Is that because you are following the lead of the RNC that wants to divert blame from dubya? It surely looks to be the case.
Had dubya not confiscated the funding for the upgrading of the levees around New Orleans, there is a very strong chance there would have been no flooding there.
Pardon me for being blunt, but it looks as though you are playing Party politics and that is the reason for your ranting.
There is NO good that can come from supporting this Administration or any of its positions on anything. That will only lead to further distruction of the Constitution in the effort to build a Party dominated Government.......Fascism.
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I'm glad your eyesight is intact all the way from Ft. Worth considering I DRIVE BY THE REBUILDING NEARLY EVERY DAY. I didn't say everything was corrected - that will take YEARS, I said the progress was more evident here than over in New Orleans because the locals have spent their time sweating and doing hard labor instead of whining about their poor lot in life.
As for the day to day operations, you actually think they board a plane and fly down from Washington to push a button on or off. No, there is some guy living a few miles away from the levees doing it. Controlled was probably a poor choice of words...more like the head honcho in New Orleans surely had the ability to open his mouth about the problem. Maybe he did and they ignored it - I dunno.
What is really funny is that I CAN'T STAND dubya. In fact, I drove three hours because I didn't get an absentee ballot in to vote against him the first time. This time though, I thought Kerry was worse, so I didn't even bother. I am actually very liberal in most cases, but I just can't stand laziness in times of crisis, and that to me is the epitome of the bunch doing the whining from New Orleans.
In a perfect world, the government would donate a proportionate amount of funds per capita to each area - and use it to buy supplies, tools, and a very modest wage. I guarantee you I would lay a large sum of money on which group would come out ahead...
When the going gets tough, you see what people are made of...I rest my case.
-------------------- Study before you buy, Sell before you think about it....
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i'm not really sure i agree about the levels of repairs being unequal... there's a lot of businesses in NO that are failing right now, even tho they are already repaired and up and running.. not enough business yet...
i am also hearing some real complaining from folks here in MS... but not the casinoes... Trent Lott is complaining loud and clear...
Trent Lott: `FEMA is a four-letter, dirty word' Fri, Aug. 25, 2006 By Anita Lee GULFPORT, Miss. - U.S. Sen. Trent Lott thinks America sees Mississippians in a different light because of the resilience and courage residents displayed after Hurricane Katrina.
...He said he can't understand why, this long after the hurricane, a city the size of Pascagoula still has a post office set up in a trailer. He hopes to do something about it.... he's also threatening the insurance companies with re-evalution of their anti-trust status.. August 22, 2006 Lott blasts insurance firms
U.S. Sen. Trent Lott told The Clarion-Ledger editorial board Monday that he was incensed by insurance companies that did not pay claims after Hurricane Katrina.
"The amount of insensitivity and greed by the (insurance) industry has stunned me," Lott said, adding that the problem does not only apply to State Farm, which he is suing.
i just don't see it on National Network News. like i do in NO...
as a matter of fact? i hear a lot of people here in MS that are very unhappy that NO is getting all the national attention...
the hurrican didn't wipe out NO... 28 levee failures were reported... the Army Corps? they followed congresses orders on how HIGH to build the levees..
bad workmanship on the levee did contribute too...... as bdgee said? the levee is not NO's to fix... if you are looking at the lower 9th ward and saying quit whining? people have been prohibited from going back to do anything.. the decisions haven't even been in their hands... and? they can't return and rebuild til the levees are fixed..
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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