They (the poor) almost never do.

 

^ Dean raises the fascinating part of this. What if you could build a city, almost from scratch? Here you have one heck of a franchise. New Orleans! Great history and culture. Plenty of modern day social problems. Heavily damaged, but not gone. National support to rebuild it at the public's expense. You get to rebuild it and keep the "flavor." An incredible opportunity!

 

Probably the poor won't. By the time New Orleans is redeveloped the poor will have become settled in their new communities. Aside from the fact that they probably won't be able to afford to return home, what reason is there for them to return home.

 

[QUOTE=Legal Bill,Sep 17 2005, 12:18 AM] ^

 

So true Rob. The stories of political corruption in NO are numerous. I don't live there so I don't know. But if they are true, I imagine that element will be around skimming off the top and the bottom.

 

If done correctly, it could be a tremendous opportunity - a model city that's ecologically friendly in an ecologically sensitive area that could also serve as a cultural and economic model for other cities.
However, my optimism took a big dip last night when I learned that Halliburton has been awarded a no-bid contract for the reconstruction, and Bush has chosen Karl Rove as the "architect" of this project. I can only shake my head in total disbelief at the rampant cronyism engaged in by this administration.

 

Proportionately, the poor will come with more than most compared to income or assets in aid from the government. Unfortunately they won't come out with an improvement to their life. Rather, the money will be eaten up and their housing etc will be more costly.

Most people have some insurance, but that won't cover their expenses either and all the additional costs of displacement.

I suspect most of the poor in NO will relocate to areas they can afford to live in. We saw that here after Andrew. I have sympathy for Houston and their social services system.

I still think the fed should roll back the cost of money. That would help lots of folks who are hurt recover and provide cheaper funds for building const etc. And it would help everyone across the board, spur growth provide jobs and extend peoples buying power.

My other solution is to call Las Vegas and let the Casinos rebuild it.

Either way, NO will never be the same.

fltsfshr

 

Wait until they get encounter the new bankruptcy standards. From what I'm hearing in the media, there's a lot less forgiveness in the system than before and more emphasis in at least partial repayments.

I'm not making value judgements about the bankruptcy system, but I suspect many of the lower-middle class will get hit harder than they would have a year ago.

Also, from what I've been hearing, NO has a very low rate of homeownership. Sounds like much of the federal aid will end up in the pockets of the landlords.

 

Landlords live there too. Usually what happens after an initial emergency dispensation, is the government will guarantee low interest loans to people affected including businesses and landlords.

If you have assets, in the end, you pay those loans back. They're still loans with interest.

fltsfshr