The long tail of Katrina

It is quite sad that after almost three yrs from Katrina, which devasted the South-East of the US, only 133,966 out of almost 200,000 households in Orleans Parish could receive mail and only 40 percent of pubic schools had reopened. From the IPS website, on the side of the blog: "The rapid erosion of New Orleans parallels the erosion of small town America. Up and down the Mississippi, travelers see business districts boarded up and factories rusting. Young people are strikingly absent. In late June, victims of the latest natural disaster – the Midwestern floods – saw bridges floating away, dams and levees surrendering, aging sewage systems collapsing. Their crops and animals floated away.On July 4, politicians repeated the “We’re the greatest” rhetoric while ignoring the country’s decrepit infrastructure.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that an additional expenditure of $1 trillion is needed to bring infrastructure up to par with modern needs and standards, not counting the cost of repairing damage caused by the recent floods.
Mr. Bush requested $1.8 billion for flood recovery — a drop in the proverbial bucket. While billions per week flow to Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of deteriorating bridges, levees and dams await attention." This is all very sad !