Most of $4.5B in Gulf Coast aid unspent

[sabra]

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — Three-quarters of the billions in federal money earmarked to replace schools, firehouses and other public works after the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes still haven't been spent, a sign that key pieces of the region's recovery effort are languishing in red tape.

Reports from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provided to USA TODAY, show it has approved $4.5 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Louisiana and Mississippi. Only about $1 billion of that total has been spent.

Much of the rest is sitting in state accounts waiting to be parceled out to the local officials responsible for the rebuilding work, slowed by a complex tangle of local and federal rules.

"It's time for local governments to start making the tough decisions about what they're going to build back and start moving forward on the permanent recovery," said Robert Josephson, FEMA spokesman.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-10-gulfcoast-funds_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[midlife_mo_Jo]

1. Truly, if you're not from Louisiana

you just can't comprehend the sheer stupidity and incompetence of government in that state.

Oh second thought, just look at our current federal administration.

The people of Louisiana deserve so much better, but they keep voting in these idiots.

[juajen]

5. I've lived in Texas and Louisiana. Believe me, I would rather

be in Louisiana. Problems galore now because the pugs want to be able to oversee and take the money allocated to LA for Katrina. They have manipulated and delayed handing over those funds until Bobby Jindyl will be in charge of handing out the money. Talk about a stolen election, we now have electronic voting machines in practically all of the state, mostly controlled by pug Parish Clerks of Court. Kathleen Blanco managed to get elected because the state had not gone to all electronic machines, and because New Orleans was controlled by dems. Unfortunately, with the last election, the pugs have taken over all of LA. Expect to see a massive draining of these funds to questionable sources. I have simplified this explanation and it has many nuances. Believe me, this hurts. I know people who still haven't received funds to rebuild, though it should have been allocated and received over a year ago, or more.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

7. I'm another transplant in Texas

And the democratic party here has a history of being more competent than the party ever had in Louisiana.

I grew up listening to my daddy talk about crooked politicians in a one-party town. Louisiana is probably the only state in the nation who would have elected a man in prison if he could have run a campaign from prison. I don't guess I have to tell you his name. ;0

...

...

...

But for anyone else reading - it's Edwin Edwards.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

8. If you're from Louisiana, you have to

know that if you could count a graveyard as a precinct, it would have the highest percentage of occupants voting. :) The state has never recovered from entrenched, crooked one-party rule, and now it's being taken over by the current Repugs. It's a total disaster.

One party rule - whether in Russia or Louisiana - is never a good idea. (I'd have also named a state with a century long history of Republican crooks, but I don't know much about the history of other states, sad to say.)

[flashl]

2. When the damage is so massive. Where do you begin?

Hurricane Katrina Levee Failure Victims Seek Billions from Army Corps of Engineers

Hurricane Katrina lawsuits filed against the Army Corps of Engineers could cost the Corps big. So far, just shy of a half million claims have been filed against the Army Corps of Engineers for the damages caused by the breeching of levees it maintained in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Of those, 247 are seeking damages of $1 billion or more, and one claimant is seeking more than $3 quadrillion from the Army Corps of Engineers over its poorly maintained levees.

[melm00se]

6. $3 quadrillion maybe?

http://news.theage.com.au/katrina-claims-reach-quadrillion-mark/20080109-1kya.html

[flashl]

9. I am so relieved we have economist to explain these things ...

"That's the mother of all high numbers," said Loren Scott, a Baton Rouge-based economist.

Someone in Baker, Louisiana, 150km north-west of New Orleans, filed the claim that inflated the total from the trillions into the quadrillions. Baker is far from the epicentre of Katrina's destruction, but the city hosts a trailer park where hundreds of evacuees have lived since the storm.

[DCKit]

3. The same $$$ they're using to hire lawyers to fight claims for the relief $$$?

It's the same old Rethuglicken merry-go-round and it won't stop until 99.9% of that $4.5 billion is in the pockets of attorneys.

[flashl]

4. A battle royale in MS with Scruggs is over Katrina money

Lott's brother-in-law Scruggs indicted on bribery charges

When the smoke dissipates, Mississippians will probably be homeless and poorer than pre-Katrina.