Unhappy New Orleanians

A new survey among residents of the New Orleans area shows that about 1/3 of we who have returned to live here after Hurricane Katrina, want to or are considering moving to a new place. And that study was conducted only among people with land lines phones (no cells) who are back in their homes and not living in a trailer or other temporary housing site. One would have thought that those who have repaired their damaged homes and have been living here many months after the storm would be more optimistic about staying in their home city.
If the city is to continue it's attempt to recover it can not lose that 1/3, as they are the more stable and better educated block of residents. But to keep them (and possibly me) here the corrupt and incompetent governments we are saddled with here need to make us feel safe, try to solve problems left by the storm, fix the weak levee system that broke during the storm and caused the flooding, repair streets, rebuild the medical care system, offer more affordable housing repairs and housing units and bring in industry to provide jobs.
I am not optimistic that New Orleans will do that. About one half of New Orleanians surveyed said they were not happy with their lives here now, a reflection that half agree with me that the future in this once great city may be a dismal one. The survey also found virtually no improvements in indicators of depression and mood such as fatigue, irritability, difficulty in sleeping, inability to concentrate, sadness, and the feeling that every action we take "is an effort".
So you might ask, "Why, Jim, don't people who want to go do so?" (Thanks for the question). The poor can more easily do that, as they have no economic investment in staying. But for the middle class and above it often isn't possible or feasible. The prices for upper level homes have plunged dramatically in the past year as so many sellers have put their houses on the market it has made sale prices plunge. What homeowner wants to sell his or her home at half value just to leave? Very few. The equity in a home is the biggest economic safety net Americans have. To throw away that investment is to jeopardize economic security of the family or individual who sells. Thus, some of us are trapped here.
The enormous rise in insurance costs for home buyers makes it even less likely that a person wanting to buy a home here can do it, Often sales are agreed to in New Orleans, but the impossibility of obtaining affordable insurance for the home kills the deals. So I see endless 'For Sale' signs in every neighborhood, often with the tag 'Reduced price' listed below the sale offering signs. Those who want to sell and go just can't afford to do it.
There are other problems that prevent a person who wants to leave from fleeing to a new part of the country. Job obligations, family responsibilities including the need to stay and care for elderly or sick parents, the high cost of relocation and the uncertainty about employment in a new area, disagreements among family members about the willingness to leave, tie s to tradition and culture of the area, etc... all those factors and others keep some of the population from relocating.
The hope here is that Hurricane Katrina, the biggest property loss from a natural disaster in the history of the world, will not happen again and that normality will eventually return to those who stay in New Orleans. But it's a guess that will happen, one that I would not even attempt to make.
What's one word that best describes year 2006? That's the question Merriam-Webster, the publisher of the leading U.S. dictionary, is asking you and I. From November 20-December 4 a person could log on at the dictionary web site http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm to pick the one single word that sums up what happened in 2006.
Thousands of suggestions have been submitted with the winner expected to be announced by the end of the year. One example of a familiar word that made the top lists a couple of years ago was "google", now so popular it is used as both a noun and verb. My suggestion for 2006..."bushwhacked", because George Bush has whacked us all with his lies, deceit, and bad decisions