[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
At the same time, I am not quite as pessimistic as you. While the city's leadership has generally been inept, the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith seems to be at work.

[/ QUOTE ]

The invisible hand is being strangled by government interference. Nobody that had significant damage is able to get their houses repaired efficiently due to an army of bureaucrats slowing things down and looking for bribes.

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe because I am lucky enough to be in Uptown, I am able to see progress being made and people coming back.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, uptown is great, since there isn't very much damage. Uptown alone isn't enough to sustain the city at pre-hurricane activity levels (though many of the uptown residents are unaware of this fact). Metairie is the same way. My sister-in-law lives in old metairie, and since her house didn't have any flooding, she thinks it's "retarded" that everything is still busted in orleans parish. As if the only thing keeping the flood zones in a state of disrepair is lack of resolve on the part of the residents. She sees the fact that burger king closes at 6:00PM as a violation of her civil rights.

[ QUOTE ]
New Orleans had a lot of problems before Katrina, and many of them have resurfaced, adding to the problems that Katrina brought about. But there are jobs in New Orleans and many of the people who will stay have the resources to rebuild.

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of people *don't* have these resources. The middle class is the most likely to be in this situation, since they had houses that were more valuable than the federal flood insurance cap ($250k) but aren't wealthy enough to bounce back from the loss they have to eat (the difference between their home value and the insurance cap). As long as they can't rebuild (or aren't *allowed* to rebuild), there won't be enough residents and therefore businesses will suffer (both from a lack of customers and a lack of employees).

[ QUOTE ]
So there is still hope, which only increases the need for vigilance about the actions of public officials and for a willingness to put the needs of the community ahead of individual preferences.

[/ QUOTE ]

Putting the "needs of the community" first is exactly the problem (not to mention a large part of how the problem got created in the first place). Too many individuals are being sacrificed in the name of this vague, unachievable goal.