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Here in Lafayette city officials are reopening the shelters as around 2,200 persons are being asked, 5 months after the storms, to vacate. Rentals and home proces have doubled or tripled with the influx. So has unemployment. There are jobs, of course, at fast food places, but who can survive on $6 an hour McJobs?
Yes, a terrible thing has happened but can we really have tens of thousands of people become permanent 'wards of the state' looking to government for their housing, utilities, food, clothing?
Who's going to accept that and who wants to pay for it? This is a small, poor state which is already cutting millions from higher education and virtually every state and local program is strapped to the breaking point.
We lost, between Katrina and Rita, around a quarter of our economy.
Don't lose sight of the fact that we're only a couple of months out from the next hurricane season. What if this one takes out, say, Miami?
