Nick Mamatas (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nihilistic_kid) wrote,@ 2005-09-01 11:05:00 |
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It's the port, stupid
One of the nastier/stupider ideas propagated by morons and know-nothings in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was the idea that it was just plain ol' dumb to build a city in the New Orleans area. This doesn't even qualify as hindsight, of course -- NOLA was founded in 1718 and even if 2005 is the end, there are plenty of towns that have come and gone while New Orleans was around.
However, this is not the end, and indeed, cannot be the end, regardless of the ridiculous sort of harumphing about the city's location, as expressed today by the Waterbury CT Republican-American in this editorial:
Optimist authorities predict it will be months before New Orleans can be made habitable again; one is compelled to ask whether, everything considered, the effort would be worthwhile.
Gulf Coast states are threatened every year by erosion and hurricanes, yet people and businesses have built right up to the water's edge, safe in the knowledge that if disaster strikes, their government will bail them out.
...
So when subsequent big hurricanes blow through, the government can do it all over again and again and again? As it is, the government (read: taxpayers) will have to pay for the copious flood damage because owners of coastal properties have policies from the National Flood Insurance Program.
...
But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist upon living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property. And if the government insists on rebuilding ravaged homes and businesses along Gulf Coasts, it should stipulate that the next time a hurricane blows through, it will be up to the people living there to make themselves whole.
However, before the government commits to reclaiming New Orleans and its marshy environs, it should think long and hard about whether the investment of time and money would be worth it.
A few years ago, everyone was talking about the "Information Economy." Working with mere trade and capital goods was a thing of the past! Today, everyone goes to work, taps some keys on a computer keyboard in their little cubicles and then, via the machinations of the magical pixies, these actions mysteriously created commodities and utilities for all.
For, for those Waterbury, CT residents who like ...uh... things allow me to break it to you. Your tapping away is actually tertiary to the process.
New Orleans must and will be rebuilt because it contains the largest port in the US -- plus five other ports in the nearby region, all already under one coordinated framework. Six thousand vessels containing 134,000 shipping containers arrived there last year, and without the assistance of one sprite or fairy, moved through rail, highway, and ports along 14,5000 miles of inland waterways. The big port, cleverly named the Port of New Orleans for the city that necessarily springs up around ports, handled 32 million tons of cargo last year, three quarters of it imported. Most of the exported stuff is corn, soy, and cotton. Then there's the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which carries 11% of the oil the US consumes into the interior.
So, abandon town? No oil coming in, no agricultural materials getting out? Sign that $50 billion check, fools. The ball was already dropped with levee protection, thus making a $10billion bill into a $50 billion. Want to go for $250 billion? Want to try running a big-ass greedy country full of people with no skills beyond the MS Office suite and an affected moral superiority over people swiping diapers out of Walgreens without PNOLA and the LOOP? Good luck, you stupid, stupid sons of retarded bitches. Four buck a gallon gas sound expensive, dunnit? Yeah, it's even more expensive when your craptastic Wal-Mart t-shirt goes up to $12 and a loaf of bread is $5.75 at the same time. And wait till you see your electric bill, Mr. Mrs. "Oh I Just Have To Run A Dryer Because My HOA Has Banned Clotheslines" America.
Oh, and NOLA residents? Here's something for your Christmas list to Santa. Moveable storm surge walls. Yeah, they're not pretty like those little fire escapes, but they'll keep your ankles dry. Enjoy your new skyline!
Maybe if you're all very nice to the Dutch (you know, the below-sea-level people who are gaining rather than losing land) maybe they'll build some for you.
And as IQs have dropped sharply, I can only anticipate next week's editorial saying something along the lines of "Okay, rebuild the ports, but not the cities!" to which I can only point the reader to the remarks about the leprechaun-based economy I made moments ago.
One of the nastier/stupider ideas propagated by morons and know-nothings in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was the idea that it was just plain ol' dumb to build a city in the New Orleans area. This doesn't even qualify as hindsight, of course -- NOLA was founded in 1718 and even if 2005 is the end, there are plenty of towns that have come and gone while New Orleans was around.
However, this is not the end, and indeed, cannot be the end, regardless of the ridiculous sort of harumphing about the city's location, as expressed today by the Waterbury CT Republican-American in this editorial:
Optimist authorities predict it will be months before New Orleans can be made habitable again; one is compelled to ask whether, everything considered, the effort would be worthwhile.
Gulf Coast states are threatened every year by erosion and hurricanes, yet people and businesses have built right up to the water's edge, safe in the knowledge that if disaster strikes, their government will bail them out.
...
So when subsequent big hurricanes blow through, the government can do it all over again and again and again? As it is, the government (read: taxpayers) will have to pay for the copious flood damage because owners of coastal properties have policies from the National Flood Insurance Program.
...
But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist upon living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property. And if the government insists on rebuilding ravaged homes and businesses along Gulf Coasts, it should stipulate that the next time a hurricane blows through, it will be up to the people living there to make themselves whole.
However, before the government commits to reclaiming New Orleans and its marshy environs, it should think long and hard about whether the investment of time and money would be worth it.
A few years ago, everyone was talking about the "Information Economy." Working with mere trade and capital goods was a thing of the past! Today, everyone goes to work, taps some keys on a computer keyboard in their little cubicles and then, via the machinations of the magical pixies, these actions mysteriously created commodities and utilities for all.
For, for those Waterbury, CT residents who like ...uh... things allow me to break it to you. Your tapping away is actually tertiary to the process.
New Orleans must and will be rebuilt because it contains the largest port in the US -- plus five other ports in the nearby region, all already under one coordinated framework. Six thousand vessels containing 134,000 shipping containers arrived there last year, and without the assistance of one sprite or fairy, moved through rail, highway, and ports along 14,5000 miles of inland waterways. The big port, cleverly named the Port of New Orleans for the city that necessarily springs up around ports, handled 32 million tons of cargo last year, three quarters of it imported. Most of the exported stuff is corn, soy, and cotton. Then there's the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which carries 11% of the oil the US consumes into the interior.
So, abandon town? No oil coming in, no agricultural materials getting out? Sign that $50 billion check, fools. The ball was already dropped with levee protection, thus making a $10billion bill into a $50 billion. Want to go for $250 billion? Want to try running a big-ass greedy country full of people with no skills beyond the MS Office suite and an affected moral superiority over people swiping diapers out of Walgreens without PNOLA and the LOOP? Good luck, you stupid, stupid sons of retarded bitches. Four buck a gallon gas sound expensive, dunnit? Yeah, it's even more expensive when your craptastic Wal-Mart t-shirt goes up to $12 and a loaf of bread is $5.75 at the same time. And wait till you see your electric bill, Mr. Mrs. "Oh I Just Have To Run A Dryer Because My HOA Has Banned Clotheslines" America.
Oh, and NOLA residents? Here's something for your Christmas list to Santa. Moveable storm surge walls. Yeah, they're not pretty like those little fire escapes, but they'll keep your ankles dry. Enjoy your new skyline!
Maybe if you're all very nice to the Dutch (you know, the below-sea-level people who are gaining rather than losing land) maybe they'll build some for you.
And as IQs have dropped sharply, I can only anticipate next week's editorial saying something along the lines of "Okay, rebuild the ports, but not the cities!" to which I can only point the reader to the remarks about the leprechaun-based economy I made moments ago.
