A Category 5 hurricane is once in a lifetime event. My personal opinion is its cheaper to just raze New Orleans and let its inhabitants start new lives elsewhere. And many already have. It makes no sense to rebuild a city in a vulnerable location only to be destroyed by another hurricane. The federal dollars going to New Orleans could have spent much more effectively after razing the place, on helping the city's people start new. Yeah, its puts Ray Nagin and a corrupt city bureaucracy out of business. But that's a blessing in disguise and Mother Nature helped to lay bare the greatest of failings: that of man.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
An when S. California in leveled by a major quake do you expect the US Government to walk away?