What a load of horse pucky. NO has a lot of corruption but that doesn't mean we bull doze cities or decide not to rebuild. Good grief, I can't believe all this hand wringing.
A major portion of NO will be bulldozed; structures submerged for days and/or severely wind damaged, torched or pillaged are uninhabitable.
The question is, given the corruption, the sad welfare subsistence of at least one-fifth of the population, and a stagnant economy, is the cost of rebuilding -- financed by everyone's tax dollars -- worth it?
I don't consider looking at reality, and the long-range factors that contributed to this disaster, to be "handwringing." For centuries, whole populations have migrated or died out due to acts of nature and the economic unfeasability of existence in areas prone to natural disasters.
Rebuilding the levees to withstand a Cat 5 storm will take billions, and that's after the billions it is currently costing in disaster relief. And that's just for starters.