During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered...The analysis is we won't be able to export agricultural products from the heartland because it will be too expensive. I'd always wondered what idiot came up with the idea of building a city below sea level at an area where hurricanes strike like clockwork every year, but the fact is it's there because it has to be - we need it as a vital hub in our nation's economy. I honestly did not know that New Orleans had the number one port in the US in terms of tonnage. Read the whole analysis.
Friday, September 02, 2005
The Geopolitical Implications of Katrina
Tigerhawk posts an incredibly chilling analysis of what Katrina has done to our economy:
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I'm curious about our agriculture exports. Farm subsidies being what they are, I wonder how much of those exports are actually bought by the American taxpayer (regardless of who's hands they end up in). Goods coming upriver are definitely important though. Even before reading that analysis, I had an idea for how New Orleans should be rebuild. I picture an ultra-modern looking substructure of cement and rubber coated steel. It would be a huge engineering effort, but we need one of those anyway. Build it right. Anchor it in bedrock and raise the city 20 feet. All the infrastructure can run underneath in well secured watertight housings. At least do something along those lines for any critical parts of the city which need rebuilding.
Dude, I'm down with that plan for Nawlins. What they should do is enlist the help of the Dutch, who have successfully built entire communities below sea level - they always have it on Modern Marvels. They should also enlist the help of the Japanese in disaster response (actually, all American cities should). If any nation knows how to respond to a disaster, it's Japan.
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