1. Homicide is very tightly tied to the whole "dealin' drugs in tha hood" lifestyle. If you stay away from the drug trade, your chances of being murdered are quite slim. The population of New Orleans is now half of what it was pre-Katrina, but because of who has chosen to return to the city, the homicide rate remains the same.
2. This lifestyle is a choice. Faced with the choice of going straight and living a lawful life in Houston, these people are choosing to return to New Orleans and the drugs, ho's, and gangs lifestyle.
3. No amount of social spending can uplift people who don't want to be uplifted out of crime and poverty. These people were given everything they needed to start life fresh, and they chose to go back to their old ways.
I guess the old sayings true, "You can only hepl those that WANT to be helped."
Just like an alcoholic that likes to drink, he can not be helped.
Based on that, I take it that you do not believe if drugs were legalized these drug dealers would go out and get a real job.
Neither do I.
Good article, Flatus! I guess it must be Bush's fault, of course...the plasma TVs and the Prada handbags weren't enough "compensation" or "reparation" for the wrath of Katrina upon NOLA.
/sarc
"What this town needs is an enema."
Okay.
We obviously need to significantly raise taxes so we can win the War on Drugs. (sarcasm)
So then 1 kilogram of cocaine is worth $100,000. Currently, a kilogram of gold is fluctuating around the $21,000 mark.
That's one hell of a profit margin.
New Orleans has long been a nicely-dressed crack whore, dependent upon welfare and hand-outs. With the end of the gravy train because of Katrina, it will never recover the gloss of niceness to which tourists had become accustomed. NO will from now on be a badly-dressed crack whore who steals for a living. After the next big hurricane there will be neither money nor will to rebuild it.
The more I hear about New Orleans, the less I care. It has reached the point where I almost wish Hurricane Katrina had wiped the city from the face of the earth. Of course the place has problems. Corruption is rampant in city govt. It had a very large population of second and third generation welfare recipiants who will never get off thier asses short of at gunpoint. Except for the French Quarter rebuilding itself (on its own dime) for its tourist value I do not see that city as nothing more than a waste of money and effort. Last but not least, it is about the worst place geographically for a major city to be. My sympathy for New Orleans and its citizens ended a long time ago.