Free Market not so free

Gulf Firms Losing Cleanup Contracts

Companies outside the three states most affected by Hurricane Katrina have received more than 90 percent of the money from prime federal contracts for recovery and reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, according to an analysis of available government data.

The analysis by The Washington Post takes into account only the first wave of federal contracts, those that had been entered in detail into government databases as of yesterday. Together they are valued at more than $2 billion. Congress has allocated more than $60 billion for the recovery effort, and the ultimate total is expected to rise far higher.

But already the trend toward out-of-state firms is clear, despite pledges by administration officials that federal funds for Katrina relief will become an engine of local economic redevelopment. Among the contracts analyzed, 3.8 percent of the money went to companies that listed an Alabama address, 2.8 percent to firms in Louisiana and just 1.8 percent went for Mississippi contractors. Taken together, that amounts to less than $200 million.

A relatively small area of the US is devastated by a natural disater. After the disaster, people are still functioning and working who live in or near the affected areas. The government comes in throw it money around only to have none of it land in the pockets of those who are most willing to work for it.

There is nothing in the Constitution that allows public money to be spent on something like this, never the less if it is going to be spent they might as well do it right. To say the least, this will actually remove jobs and savings from the area thus devastating it even more.