Do you prefer this photo-op?
This clearly illustrates the stewardship that Louisiana Democrats have given us so far when entrusted with the taxpayers' money.
Posted on 01/29/2006 6:51:06 AM PST by Uncle Sham
Political Horizons for Jan. 29
Baker’s relief bill deserves try
By JOHN LAPLANTE
Published: Jan 29, 2006
Ford to City: Drop Dead,” a legendary headline screamed in 1975, when a president refused to bail out New York City from financial disaster.
Change the president and the locale, and Louisiana hurricane victims might be forgiven for thinking the same thing.
After hemming and hawing for months about U.S. Rep. Richard Baker’s home-buyout bill, and never really saying what he had against it, Bush brushed it aside last week.
Only after aides revealed his opposition did Bush grant a one-paragraph explanation. It amounted to three things: Don’t create more bureaucracy; we already gave you people lots of money; and Louisiana doesn’t have a plan.
Baker and Gov. Kathleen Blanco countered the Baker bill is so important it amounts to “the plan.”
Blanco said she only really controls $6.2 billion in recovery money that will be stretched far too thin to aid owners of 200,000 destroyed or damaged homes.
She said opposing bureaucracy is an odd argument for any federal officials to make.
What she should argue is that Baker’s bill is a plan for people, not politicians.
Yes, the bill would set up a new bureaucracy called the Louisiana Recovery Corp., but this is not an open-ended promise to hand out money to politicians or write checks to the idle.
The LRC is supposed to be a hard-nosed business proposition. It would pay willing homeowners some, but not all, of the equity in their homes.
If they have a mortgage, the agency would pay it off, giving lenders back some, but not all, of their investment.
The agency would clean up the property and, working with local interests, market it to investors for redevelopment.
The LRC should take some decisions from politicians and give them to homeowners. They could take less and get on with their lives or keep their property in hopes of working out a better deal some other way. The agency would not take land against the owners’ will.
The corporation could transform many homeowners from helpless victims to people with some hope for the future. It could block a wave of foreclosures that might wipe out tens of thousands of families’ finances.
It could help head off statewide economic stagnation and spur speedy, organized recovery for communities that must come back for the state to recover.
Baker said he’s not giving up. He sees support in both chambers of Congress and says he has passed significant legislation over Bush’s objection before. But the opposition of a president whose party controls Congress is a major setback.
In fairness to Bush, Louisiana leaders made it easy for him to so casually shrug off the bill.
Our U.S. senators tried to grab $250 billion on sympathy instead of catalogued needs. The governor and Legislature found money for political projects during the crisis and so far have done little to adjust state government to the vastly different needs. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin famously made blackness, not prosperity, his top goal.
Some Louisiana leaders also exude an air of entitlement, even arrogance, demanding Washington immediately turn over as much taxpayer money as the state demands.
The Baker bill is not another toy for Louisiana politicians to play with or a well-intentioned program for them to screw up. It should actually bypass the politicians by dealing mostly with residents and bankers and developers.
Bush would appoint the managers of the agency, with Blanco suggesting only two. The U.S. treasury secretary would have final say over how much money the agency can borrow.
The bill is founded in Baker’s long expertise in the complexities of housing finance and the federal government’s long interest in affordable homes as a big part of the American dream.
Baker’s bill also is complex and in some ways unprecedented, and who knows how wily politicians, lawyers or speculators might try to abuse it?
Baker says he is willing to compromise. He should be. Louisiana is asking the nation to take a huge risk by borrowing up to $30 billion. Limits and controls are appropriate to minimize the chance of abuse.
Risks and reservations should not sink the bill without a proper airing.
The idea is worth more than months of foot-shuffling and a sudden brush-off by the president.
The 200,000 families that might directly benefit from it, and the 4.5 million Louisiana residents affected by their state’s continued crisis, deserve a hearing.
John LaPlante is Capitol bureau editor for The Advocate.
Sigh. Let's see if I can explain it simply enough for you then: Being stupid is NOT the same thing as being corrupt. If you're stupid and corrupt, however, you might just get caught quicker. Stupidity does not cause someone to be corrupt. And it does not excuse corruption.
Got it now?
BS. You want us to pay off your mortgages AND give you a new house.
I don't live in a flood zone, but have carried flood insurance for years. Sure paid off in 2001 when we had a 100 year rain event. I got all my premiums back, 1000 fold.
I don't have much sympathy for those who could afford flood insurance, but didn't carry it, in an area below sea level.
So the people too stupid to buy incredibly cheap FEMA flood insurance are supposed to be bailed out?
......................................................
The colonel had it right..Louisiana and NO are stuck on stupid.
Are you this big of a fool?
You don't think they other 50 states can find something YOU need in Louisiana to jack a tax up on?
Just stupid?
I agree with you - lots of government bodies are unethical - that needs to be remedied. It seems to be obvious to you that LA and NO government is corrupt, it is the responsibility of the federal government to hold it and its bad actors to account - not give them access to huge amounts of taxpayer money to waste.
I live in south Louisiana. I disagree that there is a plan. They want the money and then we have to cross our fingers and hope some of it ends up with the people it's supposed to help after all the kickbacks and contractor payments and skimming is complete. La history doesnt give people much confidence in things being done with transparency and integrity....not with many of the same good ole boys and girls still at the trough.
I understand that the problem many homeowners are having is that the homeowners insurance co and flood insurance carrier are fighting over who should pay. If someone has both forms of coverage then they should pro-rate it and get them a check so they can either rebuild or move. There's no excuse for anyone in that area NOT to have flood insurance...even if not required most people in south La. know at any given moment they can become a flood zone, whether recognized by a map or not.
The big question everyone skirts is how the rebuilding sould take place. If they start building more housing projects the people of this state should have a "Baton Rouge gumbo party" on the Mississippi River in protest.
Yep. All Bush has to do is exempt NOLA from corporate and income taxes for 5 years. That area will be rebuilt so fast it'll make your head spin.
Government can't hold a candle to the private sector.
I'm sorry. The post where I said "being stupid is the same thing as being corrupt" or that "stupidity causes corruption" must have been deleted from my computer. Could you point me to that post please? Thanks
In the exact same disaster zone and with the exact same disasterous politicians in place.
That's why I said audit every last dime by independent outside auditors. I encourage it. Have an independent council or group approve the spending. I encourage that also.
The sad thing is that much of New Orleans wasn't included in the Flood Insurance mandated areas....
Now that doesn't change the fact that anyone living behind a levee and below normal sea level would think that it should be advisable to carry. That I don't understand and why major banks would loan money without a policy is beyond me even though it wasn't mandated by the feds....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601209.html
The citizens of Louisiana don't deserve what this nation is doing to them.
What this nation is doing to them? I guess he's upset because you and I don't just give him a blank check, huh?
From the article: "Baker’s bill also is complex and in some ways unprecedented, and who knows how wily politicians, lawyers or speculators might try to abuse it?"
You got clearly corrupt politicians, police and law enforcement people in place - what do you think will happen to the money?
Now that doesn't change the fact that anyone living behind a levee and below normal sea level would think that it should be advisable to carry.
You know why they do that; they BET they wouldn't need it and they figured that if they did, WE would pick up the tab.
And evidently they hope/wish/think we should pick it up with NO QUESTIONS asked.
Mind you, I am posting this as I get ready to write a PERSONAL CHECK to cover the cost of taking out 33 tress on my lot that were damaged from an ICE STORM a couple of years ago. ;-)
After the fact? I don't think so. Why, if they found something wrong and you owed money back to the government, you all would probably just raise the tax on those gas pipelines and there we'd be, paying for YOUR fine.
Let's see the plan first.
If it had widespread support in the 'halls of Congress' there'd be more than six cosponsors. And from other states than LA. There'd also be companion Bills in the senate.
This 'gimmee, gimmee - I screwed up and built in a swamp that's also a Hurricane zone Bill' has neither and is going nowhere.
The US taxpayers aren't going to fall for it. The entire state is corrupt - from top to bottom - and 'we' taxpayers and OUR Reps know it.
Want to rebuild, fine, RAISE YOUR TAXES accordingly. If it takes a 150% increase so be it. Can't afford that, move.
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