There is no doubt that via the corruption factor...NO is number one. One might suggest Chicago or New York...but NO has corruption across the entire spectrum. If you want to change a property zone...you have to bag at least one city council guy. If you need special security because you've been robbed three times in one year...then either you hire a private guard or deal with the corrupt police department. The city survives of three basic things...permanent around the year tourism, oil money, and corruption.
But here is an interesting scenario. This city will be closed down for at least 60 days before anyone is allowed to step back in. It will be six months before the infrastructure is 100 percent and sanitary there. Jobs and normalization...won't even begin to occur till May of 2006....and even this it will be 18 percent unemployment in the city for several years before tourism reaches its former state. Those corrupt city officials and department officials...aren't going to find ready cash flowing. Fed money is going to flow via Fed methods...to prevent corruption. Alot of the down&out folks aren't going to come back to NO...they will stay in Houston or Dallas...resettling permanently there. So maybe the corruption situation will evolve and dry up over the next two years. It is possible.
I agree, I have hopes that there will be some changes for the positive.
(snip)
So maybe the corruption situation will evolve and dry up over the next two years.
Hmm, will the affect the flow of Narcotics into the US?
Loss of a major port with corrupt law enforcement?
The city might be closed for a few months, so sales tax revenue will drop; but real estate taxes should rise considerably due to the sudden increase in waterfront property.