The state thus creates a problem and then offers the only solution.
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He's right,IMO, about living debt free and the cost of housing being affected by too much government intervention.
He misses that most people could have more leisure and less debt and less stressful lifestyles if they would simply live within their means ... not a particularly American trait to be sure.
Awww I am sorry but New Orleans has always been a sewer hole. It was terrible before Katrina. Katrina actually did a zillion dollars of improvement.
Great Article
New Orleans will come back, though it will take quite a long time. Some folks will never return, though, because the easy life they had before will no longer be possible. Frankly, I don't view this as a bad thing.
The culture that the tourists saw was made possible by people who were working in the entertainment industry, and in the service industries, like hotels, and restaurants. They were working before the storm, and God willing, they'll find work as more businesses re-open. From their wages, they'll be able to buy or build homes, and they can make them as Caribbean, or Cuban, or Creole as they like, they just won't be able to skimp on the electrical and plumbing services, or the structure of the buildings. Maybe these homes will survive the next storm that hits the city, precisely because they WERE built to code.
I visited New Orleans this past September. It is a sh*t hole. Every dollar we spend to rebuild this crappy city is absolute waste.
Hey what was going on? We asked a worker in the hall what was happening and she said there is a big ole hurricane fixing to hit New Orlenes. She said it would be best to get out of town! We packed up, left and headed home (200 miles north).
That night Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast.
My first trip to N.O.
If you want to see how *not* to build a special, beloved city, with a unique character all its own, visit the great new cities of the southwest US. They are a great example of “generic” places, of biodegradable buildings and utilitarian design that fails to have any spiritual depth.
From Dallas and points West, cities designed from textbooks for the boom town business efficiency, with little local style or color, and an aversion to history. Few traces of what existed a mere 100 years before remain; and little of what exists today will be there 100 years in the future. Why? Because nobody cares. Why preserve a cardboard box?
And as generic, domesticated cities are built, the people who live in them are like that as well. In 1950, Phoenix had about 50,000 people. Today, 2-3 million. Few were born in Phoenix or owe it any great loyalty as their hometown. Its most unique bit of character is its generic sports teams, full of players from elsewhere. Transitory franchises.
So what of New Orleans? Well, if the city itself can even exist for the next hundred years, without becoming ocean swamp, it might have a future.
But only if it forces itself to embrace its past, but more than that, to elevate its past with nostalgia. This means to create a false past that is grander than the real past. Modern built buildings that *look* historical, but are far better than what actually used to exist.
New Orleans has a renowned music all its own, so it should be cultivated and enlarged, to become a Mecca for artists. It also has fine restaurants whose cuisine could be the cities crown jewels.
An entire part of town might exist as an idealized version of what existed in the days of the late 18th and early 19th Century, to include costumes, historically recreated businesses, etc. A “Fantasyland” historical city for the tourists.
Since the great event of New Orleans is its world famous Mardi Gras, all effort should be made to restore its atmosphere of Carnival, instead of just a drunken orgy. This is by changing it from a drinking game into a participatory event. Simply put, that the public should attend in costume and parade, not just drink and gawk.
“New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities”
Nothing like having high aspirations.
Or French and Native American.
Good food. Beyond that, no thanks. Our corporate HQ had a prime opportunity to leave that sinkhole after Katrina wiped out our offices, but noooooo, they had to stay and commit to restoring that rat nest. Why, is beyond me.