Moving on ...

Sometimes external factors force you to make decisions you'd rather not make or change the direction you want to take. I'm not talking about Katrina. The post size limitation of Blogger is one such factor affecting me now. I can't continue my previous post ... it's getting too long and Blogger apparently won't accommodate a post of that length. So I'm forced by something beyond my control to split my post, change the header and move on.

Not a problem.

Since Katrina hit, I've been contemplating what it's going to take to clean up and rebuild New Orleans and if we're all capable of the self-sacrifice that's going to be required.

Consider this: Current estimates are that 165,000 homes in the greater New Orleans metro area will have to be condemned, leveled, the trash carted away and the home rebuilt -- including everything that entails like plumbing and electrical -- before it can house a family. Think about that number. And this doesn't include businesses or repairs to homes not destroyed! If construction crews are able to do this for 1,000 houses a month, an average of 33.3 houses a day, the construction will be completed in about 14 years. Every 2x4 in the country will be sucked up and needed by New Orleans and the other cities damaged by Katrina. And every available piece of dry wall. Every brick, and every bit of cement we can produce. But there's a problem. A BIG problem. And I'm not talking about the huge landfill that will be needed for all that refuse.

The U.S. has moved to a service and information economy. The vast majority of us don't work-work. We push paper, trade bonds and stocks in big buildings terrorists like to target, and operate computers. We collect rent and commissions on homes we didn't build and we sell products we didn't make. I don't know if you've looked around your neighborhood at who's doing the construction lately. It's not, for the most part, Americans. They are immigrants, primarily from Mexico and Central and South America, but also many from the Slavic countries, who are wearing the hardhats. Of the nearly half a million workers immediately unemployed by Katrina -- and now Rita -- very few could be considered construction workers.

Over the years unions, sometimes with the help of organized crime, ensured limited availability of skilled construction trades because it meant higher wages. Assuming constant demand, if you reduce the available supply you can force an increase in price. "Well, I've GOT to have it. I know you're screwing me but I have no choice." The problem is that now we won't have enough $90 an hour electricians available to wire the homes we need built. Or the carpenters or framers or bricklayers or painters or roofers or even sheetrock hangers.

Given this, can we do it? Can we rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and pay for it without putting the country in a depression or facing an inflationary recession when we're done and the bills come due? I can't answer that. But I think if we get together and attack this problem like we formulated the D-Day invasion and the conquest of Nazi Germany, we've got a shot. Iraq and Afghanistan may not have put us on a war footing mentally, but this sure will.

We have to look at ideas from the past, like Levittown, NJ, the planned community of affordable, cookie-cutter houses built and bought after World War II by returning soldiers. Levittown was the first mass-produced community of stakeholders, owners with mortgages not renters or public assistance vouchers. If you didn't help build it, you couldn't get to live there. Community meant community, including vigilance against crime left not just with the police, but with the nosey/caring neighbors as well. In this community, seeing how many kids you could father with how many women, how much dope you could sell and how you could rip off your friends, your neighbors, the corner store and the government were NOT acceptable behavior.

We have to look at how we took unskilled kids from the farms and trained them en masse to drive tanks and fly planes. Of course we could always decide to build modular housing in some low wage country like China, but then it increases our debt to China and teaches the unskilled and poor in the U.S. no trade. They, once again, flip burgers and depend on social services for survival. And they pop out children who, in turn, have children and continue this cycle of poverty and state dependence.

We have to look at how we ramped up the defense industry and trained Rosie the Riveter to build a B-25 bomber every 10 minutes. It's way past time to leave the 9-5, M-F week. We've got 24/7 needs and it's time for labor, the economy and government to understand that. We're inefficient using our clogged roadways, our schools, our businesses and our factories just 12 hours a day.

[Update 9/26/2005: A friend alerts me that at least two Catholic schools in the Baton Rouge area, including Redemptorist, are running a 2nd shift of students. The first shift attends classes from 7 a.m.-1 p.m.; the second shift -- comprised of students from the New Orleans area -- attend classes from 1 p.m. -7 p.m. The New Orleans area students are instructed by many of the same teachers who taught the class in New Orleans. As my grandmother used to say, "That's using your noodle!"]

We have to look at how we can utilize resources and train and employ every single American available in this, perhaps by building modules in particular regions and then staging them for final assembly in New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass Christian, Waveland, etc.

But first we, in Louisiana, have to listen to some of those politicians who questioned whether New Orleans should be rebuilt given its likelihood of getting hit by hurricanes. And we have to build a levee and seawall protection system that protects the area and minimizes the devastation from something like this ever happening again.

One step at a time. One day at a time. And eventually we'll get through this.

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Just found this ad in the "Help Wanted" section of the local newspaper:

Necesitamos Trabajadores Ahora. Trabajo General, Mantenimiento de Remolcador, Plomero, Electricista. Y otros tipos de trabajos. Llamar al 225 ...

This translates as: "We need Workers Now. General work, Maintenance of Tugboat, Plumber, Electrician. And other types of works. Call 225 ..."

¡Deje el buen rodillo de las épocas! -- Let the good times roll!

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Those are the problems that have to be solved before any money is allocated for rebuilding. But once we've come to a consensus on how we're going to protect New Orleans, train the builders and develop cohesive communities of vigilant neighbors, we've got to find the money. (At least that's the way it's done in the private sector -- develop a prototype, formulate a business plan and then seek financing. In government the method, it seems to me, is to score as much money as possible and then figure out ways to spend it all so you can then ask for more.)

The U.S. can't keep going outside this country to the nations of the world, borrowing the savings of their citizens and putting this country's grandchildren and great-grandchildren into debt. Again, I think the solution lies in answers found to fund the WWII war machine: bonds sold to citizens, a type of War Bond dedicated to the recovery of the Gulf Coast. The U.S. seeks to float billions of dollars in bonds to foreign countries before first asking its citizens to fund the effort. Then, when these bonds come due, the citizens are forced to pay not only the principle but also the interest through increased taxes. And the money goes into the coffers of countries outside the U.S., making them stronger and the U.S. weaker and giving us less say in world affairs.

Some might say weakening the U.S.'s ability to stick its nose into the tents of the nations of the world is a good thing, but it also means, for example, that if we want China to buy our bonds, we keep mum on its human rights violations. And that breeds hatred for the U.S. by people who believe the U.S. is more powerful than it really is in situations like this.

Or perhaps China will demand something more, like a blind eye from the U.S. when it seeks to reannex and subjugate Taiwan ...

Many programs are foisted upon the taxpayers of the world -- individuals and businesses -- by politicians without our consent. As a democratic republic, we elect representatives we believe will represent our best interests and fund projects we want funded. We place our trust in them to determine who will get the checks. Each time we buy something and each time we earn a paycheck, we send money to a universal fund to pay for these programs. But because we don't assent each time, we don't always have a true connection to any particular program. We need that connection to fund space exploration, and we need that connection to the recovery.

A bond sale program to the citizens of the U.S. for the recovery of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast makes them individual stakeholders in the recovery. Furthermore, it makes us save some funds -- something economists always want us to do -- and allows us to earn interest we as a country might otherwise pay to a foreign power. It's a method of financing that should be considered. If we believe a thriving, rebuilt Gulf Coast is important for the country, Americans should hold the mortgage.

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Sounding off: In my opinion it's downright cruel of the state government not to level with people whose houses have been destroyed by flooding and must be rebuilt. Many of the people expect they'll be able to move back to New Orleans within a year. Most of the people don't yet realize it may be 10 years or more before housing construction in New Orleans is completed. Gov. Blanco needs to be brutally honest with Katrina's refugees who already have suffered so much. They need to start planning the rest of their lives, and they need the truth to make those plans. It's up to Gov. Blanco to give them that truth however bitter the pill.

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A song for the Gulf Coast, courtesy of and apologies to Lee Hays and Pete Seeger:

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the Northeast
I'd hammer in the far West ... all over this land,
I'd hammer for Gulfport
I'd hammer for New Orleans
I'd hammer out homes with love for all of my brothers and my sisters
All over this land!

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In addition to a world renowned flood control system, The Netherlands is also generating interest from Louisiana engineers for its "floating houses." Reports Der Spiegel:

The cellar, in this case, is not built into the earth. Instead, it is on a platform - and is much more than a mere storage room. The hollow foundation of each house works in the same way as the hull of a ship, buoying the structure up above water. To prevent the swimming houses from floating away, they slide up two broad steel posts - and as the water level sinks, so they sink back down again.

It's nice to see that instead of squabbling, some people are actually thinking about the problems.

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The Associated Press is finally waking up to the problems facing those who would rebuild:

With hundreds or even thousands of builders wiped out by Katrina — their tools lost and workers scattered — homeowners looking to rebuild quickly are in for a shock.

The scope of home destruction is so sweeping that it will likely stretch rebuilding for years. It took more than a decade to reconstruct all the homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, after it hit Florida in 1992. Katrina destroyed 10 times as many homes as Andrew.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco says at least 140,000 homes in southeast Louisiana were either lost or are unrepairable and will have to be condemned and leveled. Additionally, she claims 81,000 businesses, or 41 percent of the state's employers, have been destroyed or displaced.

The Katrina debris clean-up alone is expected to take more than a year. Officials say one million cubic yards of debris have been removed out of an estimated 40 million cubic yards of waste. That estimate includes: 22 million tons of vegetative and other refuse; 350,000 ruined cars and 60,000 wrecked boats; one million household appliances such as refrigerators and stoves, as well as the debris that will be generated from the demolition of as many as 160,000 unrepairable homes and businesses.

And I thought cleaning my house was a monstrous undertaking! (Not that I've done anything of the sort lately ...)

Two Louisiana state engineers think a one year estimate is optimistic and the clean-up actually will take two years or more. They believe 300,000 truckloads of debris will have to be removed into landfills, and area landfills now are straining to handle 400 trucks a day. If you do the math, it will take 750 days at current capacity, more if capacity is reduced and the state has to approve new landfills to replace ones that are filled. Current cost in Jefferson Parish to dump a load of trash: $28 per ton. This translates to $1.12 billion just for landfill fees.

Probably the most recyclable debris are the ruined vehicles. Reuters reports that tow truck operators are hauling 400-500 vehicles per day from the previously flooded sections of New Orleans. At this rate, with an estimated 350,000 ruined vehicles, it will take 700 days for the removal to be complete. Some portions of the vehicles -- like the rotted seats -- will end up in a landfill but automotive recyclers, the current appellation for the old fashioned junkyard, will have first crack at the rest of the vehicle ... thus giving new meaning to "Man, did I get a crappy alternator from the junkyard!"

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From the "When will they ever learn?" Dept: Small business owners from the Gulf Coast were up in arms at an overflow meeting Oct. 6 in New Orleans that, Agence France Presse reported, "verged on anarchy." Despite the billions being spent for reconstruction along the Gulf Coast, 6 percent of the contracts have been let to area businesses. Most of the contracts and subcontracts went to out-of-state suppliers. Yogi might call it "deja vu all over again," except this time no blood was shed. The riots in Afghanistan alleged to have started over the report of the flushing of a copy of the Koran at a Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility? That wasn't the reason. It turns out the Afghanis were incensed that Chinese contractors rebuilding Afghanistan weren't hiring Afghanis for the work.

The Associated Press reports that it's not just out-of-state suppliers who are getting work; it's out-of-state workers, namely (you guessed it) labor from Mexico and Central America. And big labor, New Orleans politicians and the Rev. Jesse Jackson are unhappy about it, claiming the immigrants are taking jobs from Louisianians. This, despite the fact that hundreds of unskilled general labor jobs are going wanting. A good wage in Mexico is $4 a day and, although the clean-up work is difficult, nasty and in unhealthy environmental conditions, the immigrant laborer in New Orleans is making $10 per hour plus overtime. Katrina's victims are eligible for unemployment, up to 60 percent of their base pay, but not greater than $258 weekly, or 25.8 hours pay at $10 per hour. No word on whether Vincente Fox is doing the "I told you so!" dance.

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Some folk arriving at The 6th Estate in recent days have been directed here by search engines after entering words such as: construction Katrina New Orleans Baton Rouge carpenter electrician bricklayer mason framer sheetrock roofer rebuilding

Here's the link you want folk: Help Wanted

That's the online version of General Help Wanted section of the local newspaper in Baton Rouge.

Here is a Spanish translation of the same section.

Good luck! And thanks for wanting to help Louisiana rebuild!

(More to follow ... )

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Porn spam Easter egg of the day:

Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice.