"A slow-moving Category 3 hurricane or larger will flood the city. There will be between 17 and 20 feet of standing water, and New Orleans as we now know it will no longer exist."
—Ivor van Heerden, October 29, 2004
Those lost during Katrina should be alive today. '
The pump system existing today that won't let New Orleans to be underwater again; could have been built previous to the deaths of Katrina. The US government knew exactly what was going to happen when "The Big One" hit. It was a matter of IF, it was a matter of WHEN. The federal government wouldn't spend the money to protect the people of the Ninth Ward. No matter who advocated for these people, the government wouldn't spend the money.
The hopelessness became so clear to New Orleans, it was Mayor Ray Nagin that told the people to put axes in their attics. It was those very axes that saved lives. The people hacked through their roof and climbed out to cry for help. The US government could have saved lives and property if they acted as soon as the danger was known. The cost at that time would have been infinitely less.
Yes, indeed. Projects to save lives are never funded while cronies such as the petroleum industry receives subsides. That is where the priority of serving the people lies. The people are the votes while the US Treasury belongs to Wall Street.
Winner: (click here)
The “J” Award, the highest Department of the Army journalism honor, 2000 and 2003. Authorization: The New Orleans District Riverside is an unofficial publication authorized under the provisions of AR 360-1. Views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Corps of Engineers or the Department of the Army. Comics reprinted by permission of United Features.
Submissions:
Articles and story ideas are welcome; publication depends on the general interest as judged by the editor. Direct queries to the editor by calling (504) 862-2201 or e-mailing amanda.s.jones@mvn02.usace.army.mil.
Circulation: 2,150 copies per issue.
The Port of New Orleans (click here) and surrounding areas were closed Sunday after a
barge collided with a tow boat, causing oil to spill into the
Mississippi River. The boats were located between Baton Rouge and New
Orleans when the collision occurred, and investigators are trying to
determine what happened. Luckily no one was injured and the area’s drinking water supply
is safe, but officials were forced to shut down 65 miles of the
Mississippi River while crews worked to clean the spill. By Sunday
afternoon, a line of vessels had formed, waiting to get up and down the
river while the cleanup was underway.August 6, 2015
By Ryan Alexander
...We set out to document the federal tax rate of oil and gas industry (click here) leaders because we knew the claim made by the American Petroleum Institute – that the industry pays an income tax rate of 44.3 percent – is misleading. The claim is misleading because the institute uses it in the context of reforming the federal tax code, but the figure includes all foreign, state and local taxes, as well as federal. When we looked at the financial statements of 20 of the largest oil and gas companies, we found this group paid an average federal tax rate of 24 percent on its U.S. income....
...What was surprising, though, was the extent to which these companies were able to delay or defer the payment of the federal taxes they accrued. Most of the companies in our study deferred more than they actually paid. When the deferred taxes are subtracted from the amount these 20 companies owe, their average “current” tax rate drops to 11.7 percent. The independent oil and gas companies in the bottom half of our list, excluding the ones that recorded losses for the period, deferred almost all of the federal income taxes they accrued during the last five years, reporting an average current tax rate of just 3.7 percent....
...Deferral of taxes functions a lot like interest free loans – companies that get to defer taxes simply choose to use that money for something other than paying that tax obligation, instead putting the obligation off into the future. And, in turn, that deferral increases the size and cost of the federal debt....
... The oil and gas industry maintained their special deal even through the 1986 reform of the tax code, the last time it was overhauled. Let’s hope when Congress gets to comprehensive reform this time these outdated, special breaks for the profitable oil and gas industry are left on the chopping block.
