Is New Orleans basically a third-world city?

I mean, look at the city%26#039;s behavior during the disaster of Katrina, vs. the orderly response of developed cities like Kobe, Japan after an even greater disaster in 1995.

Look at the murder rate, which is higher than the murder rate of Bogota, Colombia.

Look at STD rates, rates of educational attainment, rates of unemployment among certain sectors of the youth population, other non-murder crime rates...

I think the conclusion is clear - New Orleans is a third-world city located in a first-world country.

How and why did this happen? It%26#039;s really quite embarrassing as an American for me to have to be in the same nation as this third-world city. It%26#039;s sad that New Orleans, a third-world morass, gets to call itself part of my country, which is a first-world country.

What can we do about this? I think New Orleans has failed, and has to be placed into federal recievership.

Is New Orleans basically a third-world city?inflation rate

I agree! New Orleans and its leadership (the mayor, the council and on up to the governor) has failed it%26#039;s people and placed blame on the federal govt.! The high crime is horrendous and when I worked there we had to have national guard, state police, or local law enforcement escorts for personal protection

Is New Orleans basically a third-world city? loan

Putting NO under the feds isn%26#039;t going to do any good. Look at DC...they%26#039;re under fed rule and they can%26#039;t do jack for themselves.|||Yes, and we here in Houston (just 360 miles away) have been aware of this since, well, forever. It is nice that the rest of the country is now finally aware that Louisiana is the northernmost of the Bannan Republics.

We like to blame their French gene pool...|||Yes it is. No one works. They are all on Government assistance and can%26#039;t think for themselves. Didn%26#039;t you think it was awfully pathetic to see them all stay there and have to be rescued because they could not even make the decision to evacuate?

We went on a cruise last Jan. and met a policeman from New Orleans. He said 75% of the residents did not work and 50% of them NEVER had a job...NEVER. You can see their dependancy now with the fact that so many of them WON%26#039;T get a job and are still living in FEMA trailors. They don%26#039;t want to work. They had a good thing going and they don%26#039;t want it to stop. It was a dirty litlle secret before and Katrina brought this travesty into the open.

We can no longer support them for life. MAKE THEM GET JOBS. We do not OWE you a new house that YOU never owned.|||I heard a black columnist as a guest speaker for Rush Limbaugh, and he blamed it on the large black population. He said that the black people turned New Orleans into a ghetto within 24 hours of Katrina, and he was embarrassed about it. It would have been considered extremely racist if a white person had said it, but how do you call a black man a racist against blacks?|||There is only so much the government can do. Usually when the government provides relief, it%26#039;s temporary and the citizens are expected to take care of themselves once the crisis is over.

But that is not what happened here:

New Orleans is failing because the citizens of New Orleans are failing themselves.

Louisiana is a state of *very high* crime and *very high* welfare, Louisiana is what happens when liberals run wild.

Basically, the flood just put a whole bunch of people who were already on welfare, on even more welfare.|||it%26#039;s been a third country run by democrats for years.

if you didn%26#039;t name the city with the violence it could be any country in Africa or Columbia|||And it%26#039;s been democratically controlled for the past 75 years.

Given the idealistic ravings of the typical liberal, you%26#039;d think it would be a Utopia by now.|||I have several points to argue in your bashing of New Orleans.

First of all the behavior of the city during Katrina can be traced directly back to the governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the decisions she made and the steps she failed to take to avert many of these problems.

CNN was showing live coverage of the breaks in the levees and the water pouring into the city while Blanco was holding press conferences stating how the levees were secure and there was nothing to worry about. When the mayor requested the National Guard to come in and help, and Bush was ready to send them in, Blanco stated that %26quot;more%26quot; weren%26#039;t needed in addition to the 14,000 already there (although no NG personnel had entered the city) and refused entry for several days. Only when Mayor Nagin got on public radio and raised hell about the situation and informed the rest of the country what was really happening did Blanco give permission for the NG to enter the city.

Blanco is a perfect example of what happens when an unqualified person is put into office based on gender/minority status. Her only qualifications were overseeing the tourism industry and being a woman. She got elected because she ran on %26quot;electing a woman governor%26quot; and played the race card against the now current (and extremely qualified) governor, Bobby Jindal, whose lineage is from India.

New Orleans does have a number of problems, many of which you have listed. But so do many other American cities; there are parts of New York it is not safe to travel in any time of day, as it is in many other cities. But New Orleans has much to offer also, and is one of more historic cities in the nation.

And I will personally vouch for the mayor, Ray Nagin, as being one of the most intelligent and ethical politicians in office. He %26quot;told it like it was%26quot; without regard to political fallout so that the nation would get the proper information about what was happening in the city. Had he not had the monstrous obstruction sitting in the governor%26#039;s seat things would have proceeded much better.

I can point to any number of cities in the US that has inner city problems, weather related problems, and other issues. The problems of New Orleans have been moved to the forefront due to the flooding issues. What is most embarrassing is that some of the citizens of this great nation want to give up and throw in the towel without putting forth the effort to make things better.

I would suggest that you get up off your a**, make a trip down there and help out, and see firsthand the spirit of the people of New Orleans. And if it doesn%26#039;t make a positive impression on you then you are the one we need to give up on. Get out of the way and let the doers do their thing.|||New Orleans exists as a resource-rich area that is (let%26#039;s be honest) exploited by large corporations, monied interests and even the rest of the US. Shipping, salt, sulfur, oil and gas have historically been the sources of wealth. Like in many places with a wealth of natural resources (I%26#039;m thinking of oil rich countries mostly, and perhaps places like South Africa and their diamonds) the money does not get spread around very well. New Orleans definitely has different cultural influences than many other places in the US, but I think it is a mistake to link this with the economic situation.|||Yep, health and economic statistics are definitely comparable to third world nations. But New Orleans is also by far the most culturally rich city in the U.S. The history, food, architecture, and music are unparalleled. Anyone who likes jazz, blues or rock and roll owes NOLA a debt of gratitude. The economy has been a problem for decades, the only industries are tourism, oil/gas, shipping, and tourism, so good paying jobs are extremely limited. There is a welfare problem, but having a large population of people (white and black) who can%26#039;t or won%26#039;t work is not unique to New Orleans.

As for your shame, go visit the city. Getto know and appreciate this cultural highlight of America. It%26#039;s truly an amazing, exotic, wonderful place (and I%26#039;m not talking about Bourbon Street).

The first link below is an interview with Tom Piazza, author of a great book entitled, %26quot;Why New Orleans Matters%26quot;. It%26#039;s a great introduction and history lesson for those who know little about America%26#039;s most interesting city.

As for your question about what can be done? Investment; the region needs jobs--jobs that pay a decent, living wage--and better education. The school system is in horrible shape and has a high drop out rate. Change