What about changing the welfare class as we know it? Can you at least imagine the hope and possibility of it?
I think there's been a lot of progress in the last decade in reforming the welfare state (thanks, in part, to Bill Clinton for signing welfare reform, but thanks more to the Republicans in Congress for making it impossible for himt o do anything else). I'd love to see more progress made, but I don't think bringing all that poverty back in to one central location (after the government, once again, steps in to do all the work yet again) will be good for either New Orleans or the people who would be sucked back in to it. If, as is supposedly the case, many of them don't want to go back, it could wind up being a net gain for all concerned. They get the opportunity to start new lives outside of the slums they were trapped in (if they can find the wherewithal to do it, and not just start getting a check somewhere else). Putting them back in the same central spot is just restarting the same problems over again, I'm afraid.