Easy answer...It is necessary for US commerce. It is as far north as possible to protect it from hurricanes and south enough to be a deep enough port to allow deep draft ships to load and unload to barge traffic. New Orleans empties the mid west to world markets as well as providing product from the world to mid west markets. Even Tulsa, Oklahoma needs New Orleans for the job of unloading product to world markets.
"But should we rebuild New Orleans, 10 feet below sea level, just so it can be wiped out again?"
"We" didn't build New Orleans to begin with. The public works are paid for by municipal taxes and state funding. The individual homes are paid for by the individual. However all this came to be the first time is how it will come to be again.
Real Estate is extremely cheap in Louisiana compared to any other area in the nation. And a house is a fraction of the cost that you'd find on the West Coast or in New England. People who need affordable housing will be attracted to the area again. As long as that land remains in the hands of private landowners it will be developed. All they have to do is say, "We fixed the problems with the levees, the houses are built 1 ft higher, it won't happen again." and people will come.
Good lawd...it is the No. 1 sea port in the U.S. as far as exporting Midwestern grain and goods, receiving oil and refining it, and it is the nation's top convention and tourism sites.
I agree!! Don't rebuild NO with my tax dollars.