NYT/AP: Katrina's Costs Could Approach That of War (Iraq and Afghan)

[DeepModem Mom]

Katrina's Costs Could Approach That of War
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 10, 2005
Filed at 7:10 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) -- One storm could end up costing almost as much as two wars. Although estimates of Hurricane Katrina's staggering toll on the treasury are highly imprecise, costs are certain to climb to $200 billion in the coming weeks. The final accounting could approach the more than $300 billion spent in four years to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Analysts inside and outside government agree that the $62 billion that Washington has spent so far was merely the first installment of perhaps an unparalleled sum....

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The government never has dealt with a disaster of this scale: 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast affected, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced and an entire metropolitan area under water....

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Members of the Louisiana congressional delegation say it could cost $100 billion just in New Orleans.

As for the overall toll, G. William Hoagland, the top budget adviser to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said: ''We're obviously over $100 billion. I just don't know how much over.''...


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Calculating-Costs.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. How much was that levee repair that Bush shorted to fund his

war on boogeymen?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. I've heard anywhere form $17 million to $100 million

Spending on infrastructure is something Republicans traditionally supported. Not the case with the Neo-Con plutocrats.