Four sentences from Ed Glaeser

Decades of public housing projects should have taught us that the federal government is not a good real estate developer.

If this law is passed, billions will be spent on outlays that will create only the slightest benefit to those Katrina hurt most.

...bizarrely, the report spends as much space on a light rail system as it does on levees.

and the sad topper:

...we are in danger of doing a far worse job rebuilding New Orleans than rebuilding Baghdad.

The whole thing is here if you are in the mood to be depressed.

Addendum: David Smith has another good post on the state of reconstruction in New Orleans.