>>>Is is not sort of a contract whereby we send them a lot of our cash and they at least have some contingency planning for situations like this?>>>
My point entirely. It is like insurance. You pay for a promise and the promise is that when you are in need, they will be there.
Taxes are what we owe the governemnt for what we ask it to do.
They did plan, they failed to adapt their plans when things changed.
An old axiom in the military is that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Clearly the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisana never learn that axiom.