Another shot of New Orleans, and thoughts on microlending

If ever I had readers, they're certainly gone now. Nevertheless, at Contort Yrself I believe in nothing so much as the business of carrying on, despite what the past few months may have inconclusively demonstrated.

I just finished watching Bush's address from Jackson Square, and once I got past the urge to shout at the screen "Get out of my city!" I began to listen, for at least the policy-oriented portion of the address. Of course Bush began with the pledges for billions and billions of dollars - all of which is good but expected. He actually addressed the history of race issues in the city and in the South, which is good also, but I don't see anybody doing much of anything about it. I don't think his day tour of New Orleans (I would assume like a ghost tour, except with water and debris) has opened his eyes to the general nature of poverty in the South in some broader way.

It was his three policy intiatives that I mostly would like to comment on. First and foremost, he seemed to want to introduce an element of micro-lending, which I like very much. If anyone has ever read any of my essays (articles? columns?) over at Newsthoughts, you would see that for a while I was pretty hung up on microlending as a great solution to problems in areas where normal economic infrastructure doesn't exist. This isn't so much the case in New Orleans, but the issue is that many people haven't historically been involved so much in the existing infrastructure. If you microlend (such as Bush's second proposal, setting up worker accounts for training, job searching, and interim childcare), you accomplish two things. First, you put the money right in the hands of those who need it. Second, you engage people who otherwise might not be involved in the economic infrastructure. The biggest benefit to this plan for a city like New Orleans, however, is that these loans will reach those who will be left behind by insurance claims and the flood of tax breaks that Bush will certainly prescribe for the area. I'll address these in a moment.

The third proposal, an Urban Homesteading Act, is something that, on the surface of it, strikes me as a good idea. The Federal government will take Federal land, divide it up, and raffle it off, essentially, to low-income families. They must, in return, pledge to build on the land with the aid of either a mortgage or a charitable organization. I think if you couple this with some other local ideas - job counseling centers in these areas, perhaps mixed-use buildings (which have seen great success, as near as I can tell, in cities like Phoenix - where I'm staying now) with middle-income and low income housing and storefronts.

What I worry about most is the first proposal, the creation of what Bush is calling a "Gulf Opportunity Zone", which is one of those phrases that you know is full of troublesome riders. Sort of like "compassionate conservatism". Now, if I know Bush, and I think after 5 years I do, this will mean rampant tax cuts (Bush left the door open for not only small and minority owned business to recieve these breaks, but also "any employer" - meaning Wal-Mart as well might get a tax break) for any business that moves into the area. Along with these kinds of tax breaks, I'm sure that the Feds will mandate that cities lower some of their restrictions and resistance to national corporations. For anyone who has heard of New Orleans' long-standing resistance to Wal-Mart and other "outside" intruding businesses, this might not fly so well. I've heard rumblings also that they might wish to further lower Louisiana's already dismal local environmental standards, and the even more dismal national EPA ones.

If there's anything New Orleans doesn't need, it's more environmental degredation. It was costal erosion that helped cause some of this flooding to begin with.

And my final bitch-and-moan, which I deliver on the basis of a throwaway line in a recent NY Times article...actually, I don't even need to say it, I'll just quote the article and you can figure it out:

Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government...

Here's the link. Fantastic. Now we can count on New Orleans being used to help sustain a permanent Republican majority. Of course, I haven't heard anything confirming this for sure, but if it is true, it is the first real and definitive sign that George W. Bush really doesn't even give a shit if disaster happens in the US. The last thing we need is his fixer leading the reconstruction.

So I hope that's actually false. But, I wouldn't put it past them.

If you'd like to replicate my current mind state, pull out your worn copy of Hank Williams' 24 Greatest Hits and loop "Mind Your Own Business" ---> "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)". Top it off with Gregory Isaacs.