Posted on 08/30/2007 8:41:10 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Federal Spending & Budget Issues August 30, 2007
THE BIG EASY'S BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE The idea of using federal money to rebuild cities is the quintessential liberal vision. And given the dreadful results in New Orleans, we can say that the government's billions spent so far represents the quintessential failure of that liberal vision, says Lawrence Kudlow, host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company.
Consider:
So far, the federal government has spent $127 billion (including tax relief) on post-Katrina New Orleans. The entire gross domestic product (GDP) of the state of Louisiana is only $141 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. If the relief money had been divvied up among residents, the $127 billion would come to $425,000 per person. So the cash spent there nearly matches the entire state's GDP, says Kudlow. And to make matters worse, by all accounts New Orleans isn't even fixed. Further, according to an article by Nicole Gelinas at the Manhattan Institute:
New Orleans has earned the distinct honor of becoming the murder capital of the world. The murder rate is 40 percent higher than before Katrina and twice as high as other dangerous cities like Detroit, Newark, N.J., and Washington, D.C. Right from the start, New Orleans should have been turned into a tax-free enterprise zone, says Kudlow. No income taxes, no corporate taxes, no capital-gains taxes. The only tax would have been a sales tax paid on direct transactions. A tax-free New Orleans would have attracted tens of billions of dollars in business and real-estate investment. This in turn would have helped rebuild the cities, schools and hospitals. Private-sector entrepreneurs would have succeeded where big-government bureaucrats and regulators have so abysmally failed.
Source: Lawrence Kudlow, "The Big Easy's Billion Dollar Boondoggle," Townhall.com, August 30, 2007.
For text:
http://townhall.com/columnists/LawrenceKudlow/2007/08/30/the_big_easys_billion_dollar_boondoggle?page=full&comments=true
For more on Federal Spending & Budget Issues:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=25
NOLA is living proof that more tax money is not the answer................
Should be an eye-opener. But, it’s beyond imagination so will be ignored.
Let the land that once was New Orleans return to the delta. If a New Orleans “has” to be built, take it 100 miles inland. This city does not need to be rebuilt.
If I were a governor, I’d be hoping such a tragedy would happen to my state.
$425,000 per person. I’m in the wrong business when simply living there could net that. Without even working.
Bingo.....fill in the hole or blast the levy's.
Worth repeating....
NOLA blew their only chance. Now it's just a black hole for our tax money. Bush needs to declare Martial Law and open that place up to the free-enterprse system. Time is a wasting.
Does that include the $2000 they got for beer runs?
Yesterday, a FOX news reporter in NO was whining that after two years, not only was there still debris in people's yards but THEIR LAWNS HADN'T BEEN MOWED.
This is a two-fer for the rats. They get to participate in a huge federal-largess boondoggle, and it’s so big that it might actually help weaken the overall economy. Both those outcomes are dear to the heart of rats everywhere.
The horror. The horror.
The money that has been poured down the sinkhole of NOLA is simply staggering, and it continues to suck more and more money from the Feds. Stop the insanity!
When government isn't working domestically, economically, a surge of one American economist works wonders against anti-freedom, anti-freemarket forces.
Implement the new plan.
i always thought that when an area flooded that the libs delighted in instantly turning it onto a ‘natural wetlands’ ... GW should have done that with NO
Just wait until we get the bill for those made ill by the “toxic soup!”
No different then Edwards plan for Poverty... Federal Tax $$’s to be paid generously to the poor, lazy and crazy...So all you rich folk get ready to pay for those that won’t, don’t, and can’t work for their own money...
Re-distribution of wealth socialist dream agenda... NOLA is but one example...
Green Day looked really good with that 360 flat panel monitor system.
Looked good.... Sounded like the name of their first major album.
2 years later the people are still complaining they didn’t get enough help. Heard one on the radio the other day. Sad.
If you people believe these figures, you’re out of your minds.
“I’m in the wrong business when simply living there could net that.”
IF you believe that I have a piece of swamp land for sale. It’s kind on like the rumor that there are family farmers that need help from Govt. subsidies.
I would probably say between $5 - $10 billion was wasted on NOLA.
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