Paralysis

I have been in New Orleans for just over 24 hours, and I can't seem to shake this feeling of paralysis that seems to be everywhere. My mom had less than 6 inches of water in her house. Not a lot, but enough to create a pain. Her neighbor had around 6 inches. Nothing has been done there because a) they haven't gotten a check and b) they can live upstairs. But they are getting tired of waiting.

A bureaucracy thrives on money and need for money. People in this area have paid for their flood insurance and their home insurance. A bureaucracy wants to make you jump through as many hoops as possible before you get what you deserve. They want to save money (to feed the bigger bureaucracy). Why is there red tape? Why isn't more being done sooner? Why can't people get the money that they deserve and have paid into?

In New Orleans proper, things are different. Now there are rules about raising your house which now depends on the flood plain maps which FEMA and the ACE haven't created. So now, even if you have your money, you have to jump through additional hoops to rebuild. What the government has created is severe paralysis to this area. I guess in the positive light, you could say that the people who do stay and who decide to rebuild and stick this nonsense out are like a dominant gene. Maybe their kids will also have the same gene and pass it on to their own kids. Then the whole area will be able to deal this b.s. God knows we need some people around here who aren't going to let the government crap on them and call it a sundae.