Pay Now...or Pay Later

Another from AmericaBlog, this Financial Times letter (subscription only to view it on their site) identifies the problem quite clearly. Short version: contempt of government, a central GOP tenet, results in...piss poor government, particularly when a crisis hits. And the crisis in New Orleans--AND the north shore, and in Mississippi, AND in Alabama--is enormous.

Aside from the literally incalculable loss of life, the fact is that successive governments, be they Standard Operating GOP, or Clintonian GOP lite, chose to ignore dire warnings, and instead play dice with the region.

Projects to maintain and improve levees were/are enormously expensive, yes. But that's literally pennies on the dollar compared to what we're facing now.

And, I'd like to note, as per a few posts below re: the latest spin point coming from the twin giants of evil Rove and Bartlett, and so prodigiously memorized by hacks like Bobby Jindal: name a SINGE private entity with the ability to either pay before the fact, that is, fund projects that were, in TRAGIC hindsight, so obviously needed (AND which were identified as such at the time) OR pay the now staggering costs of recovery.

Again, now IS the time to discuss these matters--in fact, it's probably THE best time to do so: it would get those NOT qualified in the immediate business of rescue and recovery off the backs of those who are.