My guess is that the folks with roots and business interests will return and rebuild. The losers will probably drift from shelters into new digs, probably heavily subsidized for life by the government.
In Raleigh, the evacuees went right to the head of the list for public housing.
Needless to say, the poor in this area are NOT happy about it.
I was channel surfing yesteday and came acroos the Cali anti-war protest. As two female commentators were waiting for Joan Baez (mind you I was holding my nose while forcing myself to see what was going on), they held an interview with a near hysterical Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She exasperatingly said that the "rich and powerful elite of NO had already had a secret backroom meeting and they decided not to let the po' people back in NO and we have to fight them." Even the peace-chic commentators were dumbfounded.