On Louisiana "pigging out at the federal trough but doesn't want to share"...

[pacalo]

It's evident that a lot of DUers have read this post & found it beautifully written, humorous, then recommended it 57 times without question. I totally agree that Jindal is a tool & a first-class jerk, but I'd like to correct a couple of misconceptions about our state.

Pigging out at the federal trough:

Yes, we were hurting really bad economically (among other things) after Katrina & needed lots of federal money.

What does Louisiana give in return? Many of you benefit from our port in New Orleans, which ships out exports & ships in imports.

New Orleans has one of the largest & busiest ports in the world. It is the 5th-largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 12th-largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo. The Port of South Louisiana, also based in the New Orleans area, is the world's busiest in terms of bulk tonnage, and, when combined with the Port of New Orleans, it forms the 4th-largest port system in volume handled.

(Louisiana) doesn't want to share:

One of Mary Landrieu's most sought-after goals for Louisiana has been to get our state its equal share of the oil & gas (Louisiana's prime natural resouces) revenues that have been shared with the entire nation. Louisiana and other energy-producing states have tried for more than 50 years to get an equitable share of revenues produced from oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Even though the Gulf of Mexico produces 30 percent of U.S. domestic oil generating up to $7 billion in oil and gas revenues every year, the state received less than 1 percent of that money, or about $32 million in 2005.

Outside of the federal help Louisiana needed after Katrina, I believe our state has carried its load.

Thanks for reading. I sincerely get dismayed when I see north vs. south comments. I hope we agree that stupidity & ignorance can be found in all directions of the national compass.

[jobycom]

1. Amen. nt

[pacalo]

2. Thank you, jobycom.

Very sincerely.

[jobycom]

4. It used to be the Republicans we had to explain that to. Sad to see Democrats

turn on Louisiana just because they don't like something the governor said.

[pacalo]

7. It's been going on long before Gov. Doofus stepped in front of the cameras.

It gives me an idea for a project: keep a log of all the weird news that originates from other regions of the country for eating-crow moments.

[waiting for hope]

3. Bless you - Metairie was my home

for almost 14 years (Metry darlin') - I get tired of the slams too. Thought you might enjoy this link:

Old New Orleans

There are some really stunning pictures of the wonderful history the city and the surrounding area has had.

[pacalo]

5. Thank you, waiting!

You won't believe this, but I already have that site bookmarked!

Here's one for you -- I found it when looking for old pictures of Pontchartrain Beach: http://www.walkerpub.com/radio_directory.html#anchor2898905

[waiting for hope]

9. Weerd Wayne!

My husband used to party with him - years ago. And Pete Fountain - my sister in laws first husband's dad played with him. Thanks for the link - hubby is asleep at the moment but I'll show him tomorrow. :toast:

[pacalo]

11. Pete Fountain -- the flirtiest man I ever had the pleasure of kissing at Mardi Gras!

WTIX -- those were the days. :toast:

[pacalo]

6. Oops...dupe

[Mr. Hyde]

8. I wonder why Louisiana needs so much federal money as opposed to, say, Massachusetts.

edit: or vermont, or maine, or connecticut.

[pacalo]

10. You have any statistics to support that?

[Mr. Hyde]

12. That's always the argument I see posted at various democratic forums

East coast blue states pay more than they take back and southern red states take more than they pay in.
here's a link to the source that started the whole argument (I think): http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html

[pacalo]

13. Sorry, Mr. Hyde, but that's an argument for them to enjoy.

I'm looking for peace & harmony on this state vs. state subject. I was intending only to set the record straight about the state I live in; it was literally compared to the Blanche DuBois mentality, along with her picture: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

:hi:

[jobycom]

14. Possibly because the industries and resources the rest of the nation take from Louisiana

aren't as profitable and are far more destructive to the state than the resources Mass. provides.

The OP's point about oil revenues is an example, but only one. The oil industry dominates the coastline of Louisiana. It requires highways and canals to be built, and it eats up the wetlands like a depressed lover eats chocolate. The state foots the bill for this construction and destruction, and in return, the rest of the nation gets lower oil prices. The oil revenues the oil companies pay to drill on federal lands in the state go strictly to the feds, unlike in western states like Texas, Colorado, and Alaska, who get between 50% or 100% of the revenues. In short, Louisiana pays the rest of the nation so the nation can destroy it to keep gas prices lower.

In 2005 Hurricane Katrina--a reasonably moderate hurricane--drove across what used to be wetlands and were then open waters, and struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts with a storm surge that defied all logic and historical precedent. The wetlands used to serve the purpose of shaving off a foot of storm surge for every four miles of wetland the surge crossed. So the 25 foot surge that topped the levees in New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward, for instance, might have been a fifteen foot storm surge that wouldn't have even splashed over the levees. The 32 foot storm surge that hit Mississippi may have become a 25 or 23 foot surge, which might have saved a good 70% of the coast.

So what the rest of the nation took from Louisiana to keep their heating and gas prices down--remember, not a lot of heating oil is used in the Southern states, so they don't care what the prices are--contributed directly and heavily to the destruction of the region, and now those people who profited from the deterioration of the wetlands feel no reason to help Louisiana recover.

An agrarian region like much of the South uses tremendous amounts of land and labor for little profit, and yet pay larger amounts back for finished products from industrialized regions like the north. That's why Unions and tariffs and anything which drives prices up aren't popular in the south, and why NAFTA and other programs which reduce the cost of industrialized goods are. Walmart is popular in the South, and the wages the rest of the country complains about are pretty good for many of the rural areas Walmarts thrive in.

Etcetera. The south's contribution to the nation isn't in the form of taxes, because we don't make as much money as in other parts of the nation. The south's contribution is in the form of cheaper agriculture, raw materials, oil, gas, heating oil, and other resources that the rest of the nation needs, but at a low price. The problem with southern production, too, is that other parts of the world also produce what we do, and any time prices on southern products go up, the rest of the nation just buys them from overseas, and southern prices have to go back down.

You know outsourcing? That's just the rest of the nation getting hit with what the South has always faced--someone else driving prices down because the products can be acquired cheaper somewhere else.

Not saying the south is a victim and the north is a predator. Not trying to start the war between the states again. Just pointing out that the South more than pulls its weight around here. It's not a good source of taxation dollars because the wages are too low. But the rest of the nation profits greatly from the south, and the south is often cash short because of it.

So when Katrina comes along and destroys a major city and a few good sized towns and the ability of the region to even continue to create jobs and revenues, the only way people are going to get back on their feet is if we get help. And if we don't get help, gas prices might rise to $4 a gallon, and food prices might increase dramatically, because it's not all interconnected in ways that are measurable just in terms of who pays what in tax dollars.

[RB TexLa]

15. Blanco should have demanded our fair share of royalties after Katrina and when bush said no, she

should have shut down all oil and gas from the state. I mean shut down all wells, all pipelines, all shipping, and all refining under the guise of safety inspections. She could have told America, "you want to see $200 a barrel oil, here it comes."

[Wiley50]

16. Born in Baptist hospital NO 10/07/55 Folks Lived in Metarie

First memory is catching beads on my Daddy's shoulder at a mardi Gras parade

We moved to Fl when I was Two and TN at Five

I almost came there to buy a sailboat early summer of 2005. Glad I didn't

Wound up buying on on long Island NY

and was bringing her down the coast to VA when Katrina hit

then trailered it back to TN

She's been my home ever since

Salud!