NFT: Is New Orleans Worth $32 Billion?
 

"Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other Louisiana officials, as well as businesses and homeowners, have said the levees must be improved to protect against Category 5 storms if the New Orleans metropolitan area hopes to persuade people to return.

Such improvements would require federal funding. Early estimates run as high as $32 billion, and it would take up to 30 years to complete the work."

So, what do you guys think? Is rebuilding and protecting New Orleans worth investing that much money and time?

Is Iraq worth much much more than that? That's the next question.

Aboslutely not.
If it were prior to it being destroyed.. maybe, but not now. It's doubtful that NO will ever recover. It's going to be a shadow of it's former self forever.

NO

It's a deal compared to Iraq.

I would still vote against it.

The city is worth it, but 30 years seems like an absurd amount of time. Sounds like more government horsecrap to steal more tax dollars from the middleclass.

Possibly. Hard to overprice oil in this day and age. In 10 years that area is likely going to be priceless.
Not that I endorse the Iraqi invasion.

Absolutely.

That being said, please refrain from the political.

No thanks.

I'd allow commerical re-development, but not allow any residential areas around the flood zones.

We are a long ways from baseball season to start talking about the Yankees payroll.

Nope, the looters have already taken everything of value.

only the parts that whites can venture into.

BD, your answer surprises me. I was sure if anyone could appreciate Mardi Gras in New Orleans it'd be you.

She didn't clarify her statement, 15 billion of that money would be split between herself, the Mayor, the City Council, Edwin Edwards, the Long family (the Long family and Edwards will get a cut of everything by default for paving the way for the corruption that will now and forever engulf Louisiana Politics) and the rest will probably actually go towards rebuilding.

If it were your home it might be worth $32 large. If the Saints promise not to come back it might be worth twice that.

No, but there's a few nice houses in California that are.

No tax money to rebuild. If the residents want to rebuild, have at it.

Time to make fun of the n00b. What does NFT stand for?

Come on. There's absolutely no reason for this to be in DC, despite attempts by the hand-wringing, limp-d*cked leftist Democrat scum on this thread to make it political.

Whoa, sorry. Had a reversio there for a second.

Non-Football Thread

I may be a little biased because I lost my home in Biloxi to the same storm, but imagine that a large percentage of your home town, say KC, including Arrowhead was destroyed. Would you want some tax dollars to help make it livible again?

Absolutely. Wait, we're talking about pesos, right?

Nope.

Not in it's current location.

Turn the 9th ward and all the other lowest-lying property into flood plains. No taxpayer money should be spent on re-building houses that are going to get flooded again. This should lower the $$ amount needed considerably.

Build Category 5 floodgates, re-establish the marshland that acts as a natural flood break.

Spend what is needed to restore the French Quarter, the Garden District, and any other historically significant areas. New Orleans is part of America. We should take care of our own to the extent that it is feasible and sustainable.

I recently read somewhere that coastland erosion will overtake the city within 90 years. If this is true there is no way one could justify that kind of expenditure.

They should rebuild it to attract upper middle class and above type people while they have the chance.

Have you ever read Robert Penn Warren's All The King's Men ?

So, $32 billion is too much to spend on New Orleans, but it's OK to waste several hundred billion on Iraq...even though a civil war is almost certain to occur shorty after our withdrawal?


Most of you fuggers would support spending $30 billion to rebuild Branson, MO., just so you could continue to marvel at Glen Campbell's act.

Yes, New Orleans should be rebuilt, better than it was before, at any cost.


Even though there are quite a few African-Americans there. :rolleyes:

If you want to type "get rid of all the blacks", just do it.

What are you saying that there are no upper middle class blacks? OK

Remember that when the Big One hits, and your entire state sinks into the Pacific.

Can't have Mardi Gras without there being a New Orleans. Either way, there still would be floats-- with or without propellers.

I'm sure your opinion on the matter would be different if the majority of people shown on TV after Katrina were white.

Of course you can easily deny it, but I've read enough redneck horseshit on this BB to know better.

Bang! What's your answer Clint?

No, there are no middle-class blacks.

Without a single exception, blacks either rap, play professional sports, or are crack-smoking, illiterate criminal scumbags.



What a stupid question.

It depends on what the 30 years part is, if that is rebuilding houses and the like then maybe, but if its going to take that long to protect the city, thats way too damn long, just for the fact that you can't say that it will not be hit again before that protection is in place, which puts you back at sqaure one.

Of course you have to assume that all the global warming guys are wrong too, because the city will do nothing other then get more and more under sea level as the oceans raise.

You are dodging the issue. DuckDog said they should try to attract middle class residents to N.O.. You said that was the same as saying "get rid of all the blacks".
The logical conclusion here is that you feel there would be no blacks if the city were made up of middle class and above residents.
Why do you say there are no middle class blacks?

I said what I said because I feel that is what Duck Dog meant.

The only thing worse than a racist is a racist without the guts to be honest about it.

It's people like you that create problems even though your intentions may be good.
Do you realize you are putting words in people's mouths, unfairly labeling them with the racism you seem to seek out.
The guy said "middle class" and you have somehow been given the divine power to read his mind and know he meant black people?
Where do you get off?

I can think of one other thing worse.

Actually, Mardi Gras Upriver works just fine for Bob Dole.

It's a hell of a lot closer and the crime rate is about .0003% what it is in New Orleans.

completely unnecessary considering the brevity of my post.

I think it is the fact that it was more then one poster...

That's funny coming from you.

I agree with Morphius...30 years is way too long without the threat of a reoccurrence undoing all the repairs underway.

Stop being an idiot. NO was a shithole before Katrina and anyone with half a brain knows that.

I realize both of these two statements will be tough for you to overcome.

Not to me. But when have we EVER had a say in how our tax dollars are spent???

:clap: :clap:

Dave

Beat me to it, Bob Dole. I was going to say that Mardi Gras isn't just New Orleans. You can get the same amount of nudity, booze, faigs, whores, old drunk dudes with the permanent whiskey faces and music without the street musicians (who happen to be in N.O. all friggin year longs, not just at Mardi Gras) and violence/crime in Mamou, St. Martinville, Lafayette and about 100 other cities in L.A. Plus you would actually learn a little too, well, only if you want too. It is a well known fact that the "best" or "most fun" Mardi Gras happens in Mamou, Louisiana. People from all over the world choose to go there instead of N.O. it's a friggin blast!

It's just that N.O. "celebration" happens to be the largest in the state.

Sorry for the babble, I just wanted to share that little nugget with y'all

Absolutely yes, but only if Haliburton (sp?) gets the contract.

Just to let you know though, if they say 32 billion now, it will turn into over 100 billion.

I dont think the last three pages are racist as some have implied,its reality.

HAHA Clint's a racist, that's good stuff.

Like a person who labels everyone else a racist to cover up his own racism? I think those are called hypocrites.

its difficult for Americans to deal w/ race after all the bullshit thats been shoved down our throats.
i wouldnt call people hypocrites , but maybe ignorant.

Idiots.

Go participate in a mock lightsaber duel or something.

Normally, I'd vote no. But we're spending $200 Billion on Iraq. If Iraq is worth that much to us, I guess it's hard to say no to actual American Citizens.

Very well said. :clap: The only thing better than this take is Clint's response to it.

yes.

Law and Order even said they took anthrax, so it must be true. Then the Patriot act covered it up and a patriotic journalist went to jail to expose the feds, it must be true. Bush Is a pathetic evil lying bastard.

:rolleyes:

Like it fell into the ocean in 1906?, or like it did in 1989?

What a rediculously asinine statement, fall into the ocean, lmfao.

Volcano erupting in Lake Tahoe, much more likely, and actually probable within a hundred or so years.

He gets off on Red n Feisty teasing the board. :p

If it happens, screw 'em. It's not worth rebuilding.

BTW, ever heard of an exaggeration? That one was so obvious that it didn't occur to me to add a disclaimer.

If it's so valuable, why don't we just make it the 51st state, rather than spend a trillion dollars on it and have it break down into civil war 3 months after we're gone?

Interesting. You seem to be of the opinion that if a natural disaster hits California, you'd not be agreeable to rebuild. Yet, you seem to be of the opinion that New Orleans should be rebuilt.

Why the difference?

ROFL
Oh, well thats okay then. Carry on.

Of course I'd be in favor of rebuilding it, as I would ANY American town or city, no matter how "run down" or "shitty" it was before it was destroyed.

If failing to support the President makes you a bad American, what does wanting to raze a major American city (one of the oldest BTW) make you?

No.

Trust me. You tards and sex never enter my mind at the same time. Not possible.

Okay. Just wanted to be sure.

I'm not sure what this has to do with President Bush. Anyway, the issue isn't whether NO should be razed or not; it's whether or not NO is worth $32 billion dollars. You're of the opinion that it is. That's fine.

Glad to hear it :toast:

No. Let me borrow an argument that I've heard before on here...If you want NO to be rebuilt, you can volunteer to be taxed extra for the rebuilding costs.

Now that's a good idea. We could call it East Rhode Island.

only one? :p :p :p

It will never be what it was before. That's probably a good thing.

No.

But I'm a racist. (Clint says so)

Apparentlly, anyone who suggests a correlation between socio-economic status and race.... is a racist, I guess. Demographic statistics be damned....:shrug:

That there might be the source of the disconnect. Most people, at least myself and my take on most people, aren't opposed to rebuilding NO simply because it's shitty an rundown. It's not about disliking NOeans and 'darkies' on general premise. It's because it's an artificially maintained urban center in a dangerous and constantly shifting place. It's built on eons of silt wash and sits below sea level. While it lasted, it was a great place, and it was a miracle it lasted so long.
It's analogous to driving an ancient beater for years, even though it smoked and gulped oil as fast as it burned gasoline. But you keep driving it because it runs and you don't have enough money to either do the repairs or buy a new car. But when that day comes, and you knew it would, that the radiator empties, and the block cracks, and you have fluids spewing from every oriface and angle, it's time to bite the bullet and buy yourself another beater instead of pouring money into a terminal case.
Plenty of cities in the MS river flood plain relocated to higher ground after the 93 flood. The same consideration should be taking place regarding NO.

In the bathroom? With a jar of Vaseline?