Was NO built with Fed funds the first time around? I don't think so...
Seems to me that private citizens and entreprenuers would do it much better this time around. Unfortunately, your observation about elected officials is correct, and there is never too little tax money for them to dole out.
GunnNutt | Email | Homepage | 09.12.05 - 5:32 pm | #

I think your numbers for people's losses are low by a factor of 2, if you let me list replacement value for a typical household's books, CDs/DVDs, furniture and furnishings and clothing. I went through the "add up the value of all you own" insurance calculation exercise a couple of years ago, and was surprised at how fast the figures added up.

This doesn't alter your argument in any way, though, and if I was a New Orleans resident trying to get government compensation for my lost soft furnishings, I'd have to give you a discount to account for the fact that I chose to live in an area at risk from flooding without flood insurance.
Sam | Email | Homepage | 09.12.05 - 7:18 pm | #

Sam,

I'm sure they ARE low for some, but high for others. I figured it would meet somewhere in the middle. Of course these are all straight WAG's as well, so who really knows.

I suppose an insurance actuary ...
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 09.12.05 - 7:33 pm | #

Mr. Byrne --

Financially, I probably rank near the bottom of your scale. I'm a poor fellow. I'd say 10-15k is the most I've ever made in a year. Some years well below that.

I live in MS. Up near the top. I do freelance construction work. At the moment, I'm weighing offers. Within the next week or so I'll be heading south. Biloxi or Gulfport, and rebuilding houses and streets and office buildings. I'll probably make more money this year than any year, just because of the demand.

Pisspoor guys like me are the way cities get rebuilt. We go do the work. Our sweat lives in the foundation of every city on the planet. We rebuilt London and Dresden and Tokyo. We rebuilt San Fran after the quake and Chicago after the fire.

I don't want or need gov money, but I'm sure in my efforts some will probably come my way.

But the fact is that some of that gov money might lead me to break the 20k barrier this year.

Is that evil? Am I evil?

I'm rebuilding people's houses. That's what matters to me. I'll do it for anyone, and not ask them where the money came from.

Is that wrong?
George Potter | Email | Homepage | 09.12.05 - 11:39 pm | #

George, did you actually read what I wrote?

Is it wrong for you to work and take government money, absolutely not. It's guys like you whould would benefit the MOST from a lack of government interference and action here.

What IS wrong, is the government stealing from the rest of us to pay you.

This is the proper field for private businesses, and I think you'd do jsut fine without any government intervention at all, because if ti SHOULD be rebuilt, it WILL be rebuilt, whether the government helps out or not.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 09.13.05 - 12:10 am | #

Yes, sir, I did read what you wrote.

And thank you for clarifying. I get sick of hearing the blues about how us poor folk are the reason the world is bad. In most cases us poor folk are just looking for opportunity.

The fucknut is that gov tends to offer it.

And yes, stealing from the productive is EVIL. I won't mince words. It's fucking EVIL. I refrain from doing it. I refuse to claim 'earned income' as just another hunk o' welfare, stealing from the more productive pockets.

And, no worries, I'm a proponent of laissez faire capitalism, have read Mises and Hayek.

But, in the rebuilding of coastal MS, I find myself willing to do it.

Maybe I am evil.

Or maybe I'm just dealing what life throws at me.
George Potter | Email | Homepage | 09.13.05 - 12:38 am | #

I haven't read up on it, but some of that money may be in the form of low-interest loans, rather than outright giveaways.
Les Jones | Email | Homepage | 09.13.05 - 8:19 am | #

That bottom 40% that you talked about would just blow the $10-20k in cash on crack, alcohol, and whores, or bling... within about three days.
Aric | Email | Homepage | 09.13.05 - 9:31 am | #