Put into perspective...

[grnheadhuntr]

Sad but true. Maybe this will put things into perspective regarding gov't spending.

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate
our government is spending it. While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division



Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress
for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.



Washington, D.C .. HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

[cwink]

WOW.. Some intertesting stats.. I had a hard time just keying in 250 Billion into my calculator.. Maybe that is thier problem..

[4dawgma]

I can't see spending one dime on New Orleans. Yes, I've had my fair share of fun down there and I like the Saints but, the residents are just going to have to face the facts. That place will NEVER make it through another hurricane and the taxpayers have to cut them off sometime. If they want to put that money to good use, they should put it into rebuilding the marshes down there to help reduce the impact of any future hurricanes. Sorry, but that's how I feel.

[bigoak]

They should take the areas that had the worst flooding and convert it all back to green space. If you want to rebuild then you need to move to higher ground. We all now know what will happen and where the flooding will be. I do not want my tax dollars being spent to rebuild homes in areas that should be marshland. The same goes for California as well with the fires and mud slides, etc..

[4dawgma]

If they put an Urban Growth Boundary around the old part of NO to prohibit building in the lower sections, it would reduce the chances of flooding and the economic impacts of the flood. But the population of New Orlens would have to much smaller than it was before Kat. which I'm sure it is today.

[blackhawk0718]

amen A FREAKING MEN!!!!!!

[grnheadhuntr]

I'd hate to think how the money would be spent if you gave that $516,000 to the ones that were caught on tape wading through the flooded streets caring tv's

[Jeff]

I can't see spending one dime on New Orleans. Yes, I've had my fair share of fun down there and I like the Saints but, the residents are just going to have to face the facts. That place will NEVER make it through another hurricane and the taxpayers have to cut them off sometime. If they want to put that money to good use, they should put it into rebuilding the marshes down there to help reduce the impact of any future hurricanes. Sorry, but that's how I feel.

I hate to break it to you, but to rebuild the marshes and do it right will take at least that much. However no one will ever realize this. Everyone assumes that Sen. Landrieu is asking for New Orleans, she ISN'T, she is asking for some money to help with the city and it's residents but the majority of it is for marsh/coast restoration.

One MS river diversion project will run you about $100 million. To get things done, we probably need about 100 such diversion projects, then once that is done we need to rebuild the barrier islands and beaches of Louisiana/Mississippi to protect both states coastlines. That just scratches the surface. Unfortunatley none of this will ever get done in a timely manner and Louisiana's marsh will be gone by the time our kids are ready to fish and hunt in it.

[4dawgma]

The lack of sedimentation in the marshes is due to Mississippi river diversion projects. How can the river rebuild marshes if it remains channelized? How can intermodal transport continue without Old Man river? How can we stop this from turning into the GW thread?

[mudsucker]

The lack of sedimentation in the marshes is due to Mississippi river diversion projects. How can the river rebuild marshes if it remains channelized? How can intermodal transport continue without Old Man river? How can we stop this from turning into the GW thread?

Huh? Try lack of sedimentation is because of the levees put in after the flood of 1928. The Diversion Projects aim to let sediment and neutriens flow into the marsh land like it did pre-levvies. The Shipping channel in SW Pass and the Mississippi river Deepwater project to Baton Rouge. Will not suffer in the least from the diversions.

[rpl]

pretty simple. blow up 3-rivers control structure and let the atchafalaya river take the mississippi river. it wants it.... shorter distance to gulf with a steeper grade. only drawback, new orleans and baton rouge are no long "waterfront" so to speak. spend a couple of billion to reinvent the cities, everybody is happy.

the atchafalaya would be the new mississippi, and unlike the current mississippi which dumps her sediment beyond the continental shelf thus builds little to no new marsh (look at the land formed at the mouth of the mississippi), the atchafalaya would deposit the sediment creating valuable marsh (at no cost... nature is wonderful thing).

regarding shipping, no big deal. how many billions were spent on the tenn-tom? last i read, the tenn-tom was utilized well below capacity. tenn-tom provides direct access to the middle mississippi from the tennessee/ohio rivers. plus, once the atchafalaya gets settled, she could handle shipping traffic same as the current mississippi channel.

atchafalaya wants the mississippi, it needs the mississippi. gonna happen whether we like it or not. nearly lost 3-rivers several times in the past. we gonna spend billions to "fix" it once nature has its way? atchafalaya basin is in place in the name of flood control. let it go.