Here's what will happen in NO after the flood?

[JDPriestly]

I posted this elsewhere, but as a reply that is at the end of a thread. I have experience in redevelopment law/practice. Here is what I predict will happen in NO after the flood. It's based on experience, not empty theorizing.

The city fathers (meaning the filthy rich elite "investors") will bulldoze everything that belonged to the poor and middle class. Remember the S&L crisis, the stock market crash, the Bush tax cuts. The filthy rich in our country never miss the chance to grab the assets of the poor. And this disaster is going to be the biggest opportunity yet.

The city fathers will declare large areas of New Orleans to be disaster areas, not habitable, superfund sites, everything bad they can think of. That's OK and probably won't be a lie.

Many of the "disaster areas" will include the properties, the homes and small businesses of middle class, lower middle class and poor people. These people will not be able to pay their mortgages or rent because they will not have jobs or income. They will not be able to keep paying the double rent to keep the NO property as well as another property where they live in another place.

Meanwhile, two things will happen. First, banks will foreclose on some of the properties and sell them cheap to people and corporations who have the money to pay for them. Second, the city will declare some of the properties to be dangerous and use its eminent domain rights to simply take them at bargain rates because they will say that their potential use is very limited due to the contamination.

Next, the city with federal and state help will start a redevelopment plan that allows those with lots of money to get grants and low-interest loans to rebuild on the sites that have been foreclosed and/or taken under eminent domain. They will justify this as being in the public interest since it will improve the city's tax base (which after the hurricane and floods is next to nonexistent).

What will happen to the properties? Most of them will be bulldozed. If the land is salvageable, the very wealthy will build something new on them, which they can sell/rent to the poor people from whom the properties were taken and other poor folk.

There will be massive fraud and disgusting compromises made in determining what level of clean up of the contaminated sites must be done. The "clean up" will be done by the very wealthy, companies like Halliburton, as will the "rebuilding" of improvements on the bargain rate land. The very wealthy who "rebuild" will be congratulated on their humanitarian efforts as they grab the profits from the situation.

Ordinary people like you and me, the poor and those who are even slightly better off than we are will be wiped out. They will lose any equity they may have accumulated in their homes as well as the ability to profit from the massive government investment that will go into the "rebuilding," which by the way will be funded by taxes that they will pay in the future thanks to the enormous national debt. Many of the less than filthy rich will declare bankruptcy and have to pay and pay to wipe off the debts they are incurring just to survive right now.

The money for rebuilding will not go to the current home or Small business owners. It will go to the big money interests, the Halliburtons, the banks. That's what happened in the S&L crisis and in every crisis in recent years. It's a game. The wealthy just hold their bets until something bad happens and then they ride in on white horses, play their cards and collect, often from taxpayer money or assets that have been taken by government entities.

The filthy rich know a sure thing when they see it, and this is going to be a great thing for them. I pity the poor home, condo or small business owners in NO who have paid on mortgages for years and who will get cheated not once, but three times as the rich rebuild their city. They lose what they have right now. They pay taxes to rebuild. Then they will be charged premium prices for the "rebuilt" properties they lost. The poor will be three-time losers. The filthy rich "investors" will be three-time winners. What a game.
Al

[TahitiNut]

1. Property taxes, special assessments, condemnation, etc. are all ...

... powers of government - and those powers will not be wielded in favor of the People, but in favor of the wealthy ... not in favor of the Public, but in favor of the Private. Millions, if not billions will be swallowed up by wealthy private interests and much of the expense will be borne by the people who'll get screwed.

[JDPriestly]

2. How right you are!

I wish we could start a project on DU to research and publish the evidence of what happens. We could get first-hand experiences from those who lose their properties. Those who have access could do title searches to see who ends up owning the properties. We could follow who gets the clean-up, detox contracts. We could collect news articles, court cases.

It would take experts of different kinds to report on the different aspects of the fraud/deception/corruption. We have the expertise needed on DU. The challenge would be keeping people interested and devoting a special forum to this.

I don't know if other people are interested enough to do this. I became interested in this kind of research during the S&L crisis, but I'm not sure anyone else shares my interest. It would be a huge project.

[anarchy1999]

3. Just a question, since alot of us the routine and so many more are

becoming familiar, would it not be wise to try and to stop it this time, before it happens?

Just a thought. Maybe a massive march on Washington, millions maybe who get together and say NO MORE!

[JDPriestly]

6. My prediction at this point is just a theory.

I do not believe we can prevent this from happening. Too few people will believe my prediction. We should make the prediction public and then systematically collect the evidence that shows that the events I am predicting are occurring, have occurred or are planned.

If we can collect the evidence that proves my theory as the events occur, we can perhaps get public recognition of the corruption that has taken over our government and ultimately a rejection of the processes and systems that permit the corruption to occur.

We already know that Allbaugh, the former Bush fundraiser and FEMA chief is now a lobbyist for Halliburton, the company that the government will probably give the cleanup contracts to. We know that Hastert has suggested that it is not worthwhile to rebuild New Orleans. We know that those who chose to stay in NO are being ordered to leave.

We need to collect all the evidence of the corruption, of the theft, of the funding of redevelopment projects that shortchange the middle to poorer classes -- newspaper articles, tax and real estate records, FEMA budget entries, personal accounts, all kinds of things in one place, in one document repository, so to speak and prepare a case that will lead any person who looks at our evidence to the conclusion that the Bush government is completely corrupt in its management of the NO disaster. We know that the regime is corrupt. We need to prove that fact to those who do not know it.

At this point, my prediction will be dismissed by most people as a tin foil hat conspiracy theory. So, we need to organize to get the evidence. We need a solid case to present to the public and insist on the prosecution of those who benefit and carry out the corruption.

[0007]

4. The beat goes on. First the Indians, then Mexico and its land,

then the Blacks slaves and the Chinese slaves that build this country. Of course the blacks got to stay while the Chinese were shipped back to China, or the ones that lived, that is.

Folks like Neil Bush, Ken Lay can screw and screw folks and the poor get poorer. Now New Orleans, and the vipers are laying in wait.

Proud to be an American?

[JHB]

5. Watch for the "environmental" angle...

From a purely hydrological viewpoint, the only "permanent" solution to NO's subsidence and flooding problems is to restore some semblence of the delta's natural pattern of flooding and silt deposition. The areas that need it most are the lowest-lying ones...

...which also happen to be many of the poor and low-income neighborhoods. Where after days/weeks/months of sitting in several feet of toxic water most of the houses will have to be razed: either they'll be too hazardous or too expensive to repair.

Now, environmental reclamation projects are a good idea and are needed as part of long-term management of the area. But the sharks are out and they smell the blood in the water, so watch for environmental talking points to sugar-coat the Big Easy's Biggest Swindle.

[karlrschneider]

7. I don't disagree with your prognostication but have to ask this: who will

insure new construction if and when it is proposed?