The Big Easy vs. the Last Frontier

"The situation is simple. There is no more money in the federal budget to rebuild Louisiana and Mississippi. The federal government is running a $413-billion annual deficit, and the national debt is heading north of $8 trillion. In these circumstances, House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) hastily retracted claim that rebuilding New Orleans doesn't 'make sense' sounds less like hardheaded realism than political necessity. The feds don't have the money to put up a toolshed, let alone a 'fantastic Gulf Coast.'

But hold on a minute. Just this month, the federal government managed to find $286.4 billion for a highway bill that provides countless Washington D.C. giveaways to states that don't need the help. Among the celebrated goodies: a dust control project for Arkansas roads and a warehouse on the Erie Canal."