Well well. It looks like the Louisiana representatives in Washington brought home the pork year after year, for one economically failed project after another. Just about the only project they did not secure was the improvement of the levees.

The Washington Post has a very informative article today about all the money that flowed to Louisiana for over a decade, often after cost-benefit analyses that turned out to be fake, manipulated or flat wrong. Over the five years of the Bush administration, Louisiana received far more money for Army Corps of Engineers projects than any other state: about $1.9 billion. The Corps had just started a new $748 million construction project on the Industrial Canal levee when it burst ten days ago. Only the project had nothing to do with flood control. It was a canal lock intended to accommodate the Canal's increasing barge traffic. And guess what? There has been no increased barge traffic over the years.

Of course that is pork barrel politics for you. But if I understand that typical U.S. mechanism correctly, it can also be used to the advantage of projects and areas that really need money. The LA representatives could have faked or manipulated some alarming reports on the town's flood risk, just so they could secure the federal money for those levees. They didn't even try, it seems.

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