Glassbottom Boat Tours of my House now Available--$5

[Tyson]

How many people are out of a job due to relocation and flooded offices, etc?

I imagine that some bigger companies will relocate some of their essential divisons to other offices around the nation. Non-national companies with their only offices in NOLA will probably relocate to the surrounding area if they can. Smaller mom-and-pop operations are going to have to work the hand-out circuit until they can either find a new job, set up a new place of business, or move-in with family/friends etc.

Assume worst-case scenario: The area is gone. Uninhabitable. Renamed "Katrina Bay". 500,000 people displaced.

I still don't think it will be that bad. The hand-outs will ease the recovery, for sure. Businesses will set up shop elsewhere. People will move to other cities.

In fact, it could be a good thing if the rebuilding is done by area companies. If a mega-corp (like Halliburton, fuck them and their fucking fuck fucky fuck shit piss cock) gets the contract, it's going to be a huge money hole like Iraq. But if you give all that rebuilding money to local companies, you could rebuild the regional economy as well as the city itself.

It's a chain-reaction: Hire thousands of workers to rebuild the city and clean it up. Bring in cooks to cook for them. Bring in stores for them to get food and supplies at. Build the schools and universites and bring them in, etc etc etc.

It's going to be a big down-payment, but if Bush doesn't fuck it up, this could be a blip on the economic radar. Rebuild New Orleans as the city of the future or something.

Summary: Go New Deal-style on this. Put money in to jobs, not corporation pockets.

[Tyson]

I would say a serious depression.  Thank god our economy is as good as it is right now.  If this happened ten years ago...

You're being ironic, right? If you aren't, please explain how the economy is better in 2005 than in 1995 because I was just a fetus in 1995 and lived in Albania or something.

I was under the impression that the mid-to-late 90s were awfully damn good.

[nacho]

Oh, ten years ago, blah blah, Clinton sucks.  We had a surplus.  And what did we get out of it?  Now we're in debt.

Katrina isn't the straw that'll lead us to a depression.  The Depression in 29 came thanks to a massive income gap and high personal debt... Two things that, sadly, we're seeing today.  So the makings for a Depression are there, but we've set in safeguards so the 29 scenario won't repeat.  FDIC and all that will keep banks from folding, which means the individual doesn't feel a collapse.  The government absorbs it for quite a while until it finally bleeds into our taxes and causes a much grander fall, but that's something that we can string out for many years.  We have a huge cushion that can handle things like this.

I think spring 06 will see gas around that $4 mark and matching inflation, that's all.

[Cassander]

i think the city might as well be abandoned.  maybe not the whole region, but New Orleans is going to take at least 2 years to rebuild, and even then, the tourism is going to take even longer to build back up (NOLA's only real industry).  It was one of the poorest cities to live in, and now it's going to be even worse.  Paralegals make $6 an hour there.  Restaurant managers sometimes pull in 8 or 9.  A factory job might get you 10.  There's going to be a huge housing shortage, the apartment complexes and/or rented houses that did survive are going to simultaneously rise in rent and be deteriorated by the people who live there.  

we're talking millions and millions of dollars just to stabilize, and at that point its going to be quick fixes that could get wiped out in another year or two by another storm.  it's horriffic.  1.5 million homeless.  this is like refugees in an African country or something.  everyone's going to jump the border into the other southern states and start to be a burden on their economies.

Blah.  this is all i can think about right now.  i don't even feel sorry for myself.  i at least was in a position to easily leave the town and not have any real roots there.  I hadn't switched over all my official stuff, hadn't invested any real money there yet, and i've got a couple places to hang out until i figure stuff out.  These other poor fucks are going to be in the astrodome for another 2 or 3 weeks.

[nacho]

Ho-ho.

[Tyson]

d00d. I already posted that thingy. But that one is just hilarious.

Where are people getting those "OH SNAP!" and "THAT'S RACIST" clips?

[Cassander]

damn looters better stay away from my record collection!  you can't find copies of Dark Side just lying around anymore, ya know!

[Tyson]

Those were yours? Shit. Sorry. Uhh... The tri-tip will wash off, but I think the fire melted the backside a bit. I thought they were pans! Ha ha!

[Cassander]

no...what about zep IV?

[Tyson]

Toilet paper is scarce man! You can't blame me!

[Cassander]

you're one a them negroes, ain't ya!  no respect for the British invasion whatsoever!

i've also been thinking of small things i've lost today:

sherlock holmes pipe
cameras
all comic books
a pound puppy i've had forever (shut up, his name is spike and he's awesome)
love letters
approx. 100 yards of ethernet cable
pint glasses o' the south collection
my dave Barry "alert reader" certificate
DJ Shadow Private Press Promo Poster
diplomas
13 boxes of floss
picture of me with Kevin Smith
copy of my first novel and short story collection (still exists on computer though, just not in that nice kinko binding)
a lot of tea
backgammon set

eh.  not a total loss. except for that DJ Shadow poster.  that thing was awesome.  and, of course, all the Maxx comics.  

now isn't the time to fret over possessions, but it really did take me forever to find all those maxx comics.  well, now they're in TPB at least.

oh damn! just remembered.  Autographed copy of James Ellroy's memoir.  shit.  

I hereby vow to kill all of Katrina's children unto the 13th generation.

[Tyson]

DJ Shadow Private Press Promo Poster

I would have slit my wrists after typing that, man.

Don't worry though. Rest easy knowing that Katrina can't wipe out all the DJ Shadow CDs on the planet.

[Cassander]

too true.  I got all my CDs.  that would have been a devastating loss.  of course, they're always in my car, so.  but has anyone seen my jar full of baby teeth floating around?

[Tyson]

I ran out of shotgun ammo so, you know, look for deer with 10 teeth in its brain.

[Goblin_Queen]

I'm sorry if I'm a little off topic here, but after I read Yotoc's comments, I couldn't really focus on anything else until I said something.  I can't believe that he could be so disturbingly racist.  People like him really kill me.  Making generalizations about black people in general is WRONG.  I mean, yes there are people who are lazy retards but it has nothing to do with race.  You think people would risk their lives over a fucking DVD player?  Let's think about this for a second shall we?  These people didn't think that the storm would be nearly as bad as it was, in fact, the only reason everything went to hell was because of the unpredicted multiple levee breaks.  Not only that, what kind of people would go through all the trouble of stealing stuff like that?  POOR PEOPLE!  People with nothing to call their own and no homes to go to.  People who think, "maybe I can get some money for this or something because I have NOTHING left".  Stealing is not right, no matter the circumstance.  I'm not rationalizing anything, but to say black people are lazy, and whatever other hateful things you said, is just as wrong as saying that they aren't responsible for their own actions.  It all falls under the category of making generalizations, which I take quite personal.