THE PRICE IS RIGHT?
On September 2nd, I'd posted ten questions regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf coast.
Today, we got an answer on part of question number six. Quoting the question and the answer from the post:
"6. When will the first memorial services be held for the victims, locally, regionally and nationally a la post 9/11?)
Answer: This is a great opportunity for politicians go get airtime, so this will likely happen much sooner than later, possibly by the end of September?"
Well, President Bush beat me by two weeks, announcing today as the National Day of Prayer, with services at Washington's National Cathedral going on as I type this post. As bad as the disaster has been for so many people to date, the country as a whole is heaving a bit of a sigh of relief.
Even though the ultimate implications and costs of this disaster have yet to be tabulated, one thing is becoming clear. It could have been far, far worse, especially in the number of lives lost.
So as expected in above-mentioned post, we're now rapidly moving onto the next stage of this national drama, the political and economic "land grab" as we figure out how to make things right, and who should pay what for it.
It's becoming clearer that the knee-jerk largess of the politicians (be they national, state or local), to "spend first and ask questions later" is likely to be called into question.
Two hundred billion dollars coming out of the national coffers seems a bit much when the media is already reporting stories on local politicians and entrepreneurs speculating on how they can spend this manna from heaven. Not to mention the havoc it creates with the national budget, such as it is.
Just a back of the envelope calculation suggests that spending that much to re-settle around a million people would cost $200,000 per person, funded by national tax dollars.
We are about to be treated to a distinctly different set of images on our TV screens in the coming days, weeks and months. The image will be of residents coming back and gleefully figuring out how to profit from the re-building.
The tears will give way to smiles and laughter as they build and furnish new homes with proceeds from insurance, supplemented by historically unprecedented government largess and private sector investors and speculators. Some of the stories of greed will make the glimpses of emerging greed in this LA Times article seem tame in hindsight.
We'll see pictures of folks eagerly buying new appliances, furniture and cars on national TV, with the same look on their faces as a winning contestant on the "Price is Right".
It'll be the ultimate reality TV.
Hopefully we'll figure out more efficient and intelligent ways to do this, especially by letting the private sector finance some part of the re-development. Not to mention reining in the politicians' natural impulse to buy their way back into voters' good graces, regardless of party or level (national, state and local).
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