Fellow LLP’er Left Brian Female asks a tough question — whether we should rebuild New Orleans. My gut reaction is, that, yes, absolutely we should rebuild. Just like we should rebuild on the site of the World Trade Center in New York.
The practical reasons are obvious; if we abandon New Orleans and its suburbs to the waters of the Mississippi, where would the 4.5 million people who live there go ? What about the businesses that are based there ? True, it would cost money to rebuild and there is a certain amount of risk that something like Katrina could happen again in, say, 30 years, but the cost associated with abandonment is huge as well.
The emotional reasons are even more important. This is America. We do not abandon our cities. If we start even considering things like that, then I’m afraid we’d start going down the same road as the people who once lived on Easter Island who are now remembered only by history.
So to answer the question: Should we rebuild ? Hell yeah.
Technorati Tag: Hurricane Katrina
