St. Maximos' Hut

Robert raises an important issue. Today's media accounts of rebuilding show that interest groups are already making claims on the disaster relief for projects that benefit only a few. For example, in "Can a Rebuilt New Orleans Retain its Unique Character?" in the WSJ (link requires subscription), we learn that "civic leaders, real-estate developers and government officials are quietly discussing plans to remake the Crescent City into something better than it was before the devastation."

Here's the laundry list:

With as much as $200 billion in federal aid possible for the region, much of it aimed at New Orleans, once pie-in-the-sky redevelopment plans suddenly appear possible. A light-rail system, new schools, a mile-long riverfront park, museums and other cultural facilities are just some of the ideas that hometown boosters have long promoted as elixirs for the neighborhoods that remained cut off economically and geographically from the city's tourist and convention-business goldmine.

If we end up taking money from taxpayers in the rest of the country to build a light rail system in New Orleans, we have surely gone beyond what even a Samaritan with tax power might have thought possible.

Politicians are quick to condemn those who price "gouge" after a disaster. How about some moral condemnation for those who rent seek?