I realize (though it too me a minute) that you specifically disabled the comments on your NOLA post to avoid conflict, but I wanted to clarify one thing: Before Katrina, NOLA refined 25% of the oil this country uses. That resource is gone. In addition, up to 1/3 of the oil that we use entered through the port of New Orleans.
So, despite it being, overall, an impoverished city (and LA an impoverished state), it is a city of both strategic and economic importance. HUGE strategic and economic importance. And the skyrocketing gas prices (at the pump) is both an indication of economic uncertainty, and a reflection of this. But note that oil prices (per barrel) have shot up worldwide -- I think they've doubled from roughly 35 (or is it 40?) to 70.
Throw peak oil (http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/) into the mix, and, well the pooch may be well and truly screwed. (Yes, that site is fairly alarmist, but it explains the concept of peak oil well. And, frankly, I think we should be alarmed.)
So, sorry for the didactic nature of this post, but I couldn't help but respond, especially as you specifically called out oil in your Katrina post.
And hey, if you want depressing theories (in addition to the race/class calculus involved in not getting timely relief to NOLA and elsewhere), check this out:
(From From the Wilderness (http://fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090205_bet_life.shtml), via Wolcott (http://jameswolcott.com/).
"Bottom line: my assessment is that New Orleans is never going to be rebuilt and that US domestic oil production will never again reach pre-Katrina levels. The infrastructure is gone, the people are gone, and the US economy will be on life support very, very quickly. If people are griping at $5.00 gasoline what will they do when it’s $8.00? $10.00? Start shooting (the wrong people)? How difficult is it to rebuild in that kind of social climate? And if US oil production does not soon exceed pre-Katrina levels then the US economy is doomed anyway. It’s a catch-up game now. I think it’s quite likely that the Bush administration is responding so ineptly in part because it is in a complete crisis mode realizing that the entire United States is on the brink of collapse and there’s very little they can do about it. The Bush administration doesn’t know how to build things up, only blow them up. They aren’t worrying about New Orleans because they’re frantically triaging the rest of the nation and deciding what can be saved elsewhere."
no subject
So, despite it being, overall, an impoverished city (and LA an impoverished state), it is a city of both strategic and economic importance. HUGE strategic and economic importance. And the skyrocketing gas prices (at the pump) is both an indication of economic uncertainty, and a reflection of this. But note that oil prices (per barrel) have shot up worldwide -- I think they've doubled from roughly 35 (or is it 40?) to 70.
Throw peak oil (http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/) into the mix, and, well the pooch may be well and truly screwed. (Yes, that site is fairly alarmist, but it explains the concept of peak oil well. And, frankly, I think we should be alarmed.)
So, sorry for the didactic nature of this post, but I couldn't help but respond, especially as you specifically called out oil in your Katrina post.
And hey, if you want depressing theories (in addition to the race/class calculus involved in not getting timely relief to NOLA and elsewhere), check this out:
(From From the Wilderness (http://fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090205_bet_life.shtml), via Wolcott (http://jameswolcott.com/).
"Bottom line: my assessment is that New Orleans is never going to be rebuilt and that US domestic oil production will never again reach pre-Katrina levels. The infrastructure is gone, the people are gone, and the US economy will be on life support very, very quickly. If people are griping at $5.00 gasoline what will they do when it’s $8.00? $10.00? Start shooting (the wrong people)? How difficult is it to rebuild in that kind of social climate? And if US oil production does not soon exceed pre-Katrina levels then the US economy is doomed anyway. It’s a catch-up game now. I think it’s quite likely that the Bush administration is responding so ineptly in part because it is in a complete crisis mode realizing that the entire United States is on the brink of collapse and there’s very little they can do about it. The Bush administration doesn’t know how to build things up, only blow them up. They aren’t worrying about New Orleans because they’re frantically triaging the rest of the nation and deciding what can be saved elsewhere."