Massive Waste In Louisiana

Lawrence Kudlow writes a very illuminating article on RealClearPolitics.com about the massive waste involved in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup. It's worth reading the whole thing, but here's the short version.

In the past two years, $127 billion have been spent on the cleanup. That's right, $127 billion. Unfortunately, only $52.3 billion is accounted for.

Here are some of the key points:

- $24 billion has been used to build houses and schools, repair damaged infrastructure and provide victims with a place to live
- $7.1 billion went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the levees
- $2 billion on local schools
- $2.5 million from the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries
- $16.7 billion from the administration as part of the largest housing-recovery program in U.S. history

So where's the rest of the money? As Kudlow points out, if you divide up the aid money already spent on New Orleans amongst everyone in the city, each person would receive $425,000! So why is anyone still living in a trailer? Why is the housing situation still a mess? Why has the crime rate skyrocketed despite the fact that the population is roughly half of pre-hurricane levels?

And now they're looking for more money?? Don't get me wrong - we needed to help out the residents down there, so I'm not complaining about a load of money being spent to do that. That kind of compassion is one of the things that makes America great. But, I would like to see someone show where the leftover $74.7 billion went before we start sending more taxpayer dollars their way.

And, at the risk of sounding cold and heartless, I'm more than a little frustrated by the 'victims' who still -- two full years later -- have not gotten on with their lives, found new jobs, or gotten back on their feet. Give me a break! The only possible explanation for riding the government gravy train that long is that they're not making any reasonable attempt to get off of it. To add insult to injury, some of them are actually suing the manufacturer who provided them with free trailers to live in. I'm sorry, but I have no tolerance for people who are not only so supremely lazy that they can't manage to find a job in a city full of reconstruction projects, but who also have the sheer audacity to sue those who so generously donated a place to live in their time of greatest need.

Maybe it's time to kick them off the gravy train.

There's my two (heartless) cents.