I am really afraid that the imbalance of federal aid for rebuilding--with Mississippi (30,000 homes lost) given 5 billion dollars and Louisiana (215,000 homes lost) given 6 billion--is a sign that the White House really doesn't want New Orleans to rise from the dead, because if New Orleans is restored, it will probably still be a Democratic city, whereas Mississippi has a well-connected Republican governor.
I don't like Louisiana politics either, but safeguards can be put in place--if that is the only problem.
A serious issue is that the Army Corps of Engineers built the levees that failed. The city did not fail as seriously as the federal government did in providing inadequate protection from storm surges. My dentist lived 4 blocks from the levee break in Lakeview; she still doesn't know if she will rebuild, because of the government's reluctance to do anything more than restore the levees to their former condition. (Levee funds and the funds provided for lost homes are two different allocations, both grossly inadequate and out of all proportion to the purported goals.)
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