Should have cut-out the middle man and just given the cash to the politicians at the municipal, parish, and state level. The Feds have pured tonnes of cash into a state that is infamous for its skill at graft and corruption and people are shocked that so few people have actually received relief.
This is nothing but another completely uninformed post by another self appointed expert who has no clue what he is talking about. Lawrence Kudlow should know better. This piece is full of misinformation. Sad but not surprising. If Kudlow can be so loose and careless with the truth then he really has very little credibility on anything else. There is no excuse for someone of his means and position to simply repeat myths without at least doing a minimal amount of research on his own.
You know, $127 Billion would have poured a lot of concrete, and allowed for a nice new port, which is the only reason for New Orleans to exist in the first place. And it would have made the new city higher than the water, would has a way of keeping things dry.
127 billion divided by the population of New Orleans and vicinity...= ??? per citizen. You do the math. My calculator can’t handle big numbers like that. Its enough for each citizen to retire on though.
“The grand total is $127 billion (including tax relief). That’s right: a monstrous $127 billion”
Although it is observed briefly in passing in this article, I think that I should point out again that the $127 billion mentioned is money that has been designated for the recovery efforts of ALL the states impacted by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. Those storms were WILMA,KATRINA AND RITA. The states affected include FLORIDA,ALABAMA,MISSISSIPPI,LOUISIANA AND TEXAS. Of this amount, the federal government allocated about $60 billion to Louisiana for two storms, Katrina and Rita. A large part of that money was used for relocation assistance, emergency housing, levee repair,and debris removal. Less than $26 billion was spent on rebuilding the infrastructure, permanent construction projects, and money paid directly to Louisiana homeowners.
That $60 billion covered the TWO HURRICANES that hit Louisiana in 2005, Katrina on August 29 and Rita on September 24. Although Rita remained well to the south and west of New Orleans, a pre-landfall storm surge overwhelmed a levee of the Industrial Canal protecting the lower 9th Ward, a part of a fragile and already compromised levee system as repairs continued. At landfall, more parts of the levee wall were breached causing major reflooding in New Orleans. The original breaches had occurred a month earlier as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
In addition, residents of Cameron Parish, Calcasieu Parish, and parts of Jefferson Davis Parish, Acadia Parish, Iberia Parish, and Vermillion Parish were told to evacuate ahead of the storm. These areas also sustained extensive damage.
The bottom line here is that regardless of the neverending articles that want to make it seem that New Orleans is reaping some kind of financial windfall and that all of these billions are coming here, the amount of money quoted over and over and over again as being just for the recovery of New Orleans is WRONG. Louisiana, let alone New Orleans, DID NOT get $127 billion. That amount was for the ENTIRE GULF COAST REGION. That’s THREE HURRICANES and FIVE STATES! New Orleans did not even get the entire $60 billion that was allocated to the state. That amount must be shared with the areas of the state damaged by hurricane Rita.
Believe me when I tell you that we are grateful for every single thing that we did get, whether monitarily( really needed as 80% of the city was flooded and more or less decimated), emotionally, or spiritually. The local newspaper this week was full of the many stories of that gratitude from people who were helped by the kindness of strangers. Strangers who came here to help us in our hour of need (and are still coming) and strangers who met our citizens as they were dispersed across the country and showed them the love and thoughtfulness that they might shown a family member. These selfless acts will be part of the permanent fabric with which we will continue to rebuild New Orleans.
I should head down to the Big Easy for next year's Fat Tuesday celebration and demand first class room accommodations, 5-star worthy food, & free-flowing Johnnie Walker Blue label shots/drinks all comped since I've/we've paid for it many times over.
I wonder if the writer is aware that that 127 billion not only went to New Orleans but also other parts of Louisiana as well as Mississippi, Alabama and Florida?