There are no ancient Geeks posting on this site
Rich, to be fair and honest, I must admit I have been accused of both attributes at different times in my life. Though it is not true that I'm older than dirt. It is just that dirt and I are on a first-name basis. Is that old enough to qualify as ancient? And as for "geek" - I could easily be mistaken for a member of the "Geek Squad" - a division of the Best Buy chain that does high-tech repairs. Except that I do that sort of stuff for the government, not for Best Buy.
Keith Nichols - your apology is accepted and in fact you weren't the first person who ever voiced those concerns. One of the USA senators from a northeastern state said it within a month of Katrina's passage.
You are right that I have a vested interest in my home. Which is why the initial feelings of anger. Don't worry, they have long since passed. Besides which, you are right that there are PARTS of New Orleans for which the idea of rebuilding is just not going to be feasible without a LOT more money than anyone has handy at the moment.
The other comments I made, about how the cost of RELOCATING the port facilities must be used to balance the REBUILDING side of the cost equations, is where I urge you to rethink your logic. If you take that counter-cost into account, I believe there is where your statement betrays a certain "off-handedness" - i.e. not a lot of thought about the ramifications. Which is why I stepped back to explain the problem.
If you remember that everybody has to live and work somewhere and that it is illegal to take land without compensation (and that in the USA, it counts as a "partial taking" to make a decision that limits land use), then build yourself a comparison chart. Look at the cost to rebuild vs. cost to relocate. When you do that, consider factors such as
1. Roads and rights-of-way
2. Bridges and rights-of-way
3. Pipelines, power lines, and rights-of-way
4. Rail terminals, rail yards, airports - and rights-of-way
5. The largest port in the USA by tonnage
6. Factories & refineries that process raw minerals at point of entry.
7. Business offices for everyone dealing with above
8. Housing for same.
9. Schools, hospitals, libraries, theaters, etc.
OK, now factor in that not only do you have to obtain new land for all of the above, which means eminent domain for the public stuff, but you also have that little "fringe" of eminent domain that deals with deprivation of usage for the private property previously applied to the above.
Oh, just to add chaos... change everyone's addresses while you are at it. What do you think would happen if the UK post office had to completely update all addresses for a single large city with a population in excess of 400K residents, about 100K families? Can you say... total chaos?
Wait, I've got it.... in line with Rich's continual conspiracy theories, Hurricane Katrina is a terrorist plot.
