"limited government response and great private response..."

Given the World's previous comments, I interpreted the previous article on the rebuilding of New Orleans to mean that government should be somewhat involved, but not that public money should be thrown away, as appears to be happening.

The existence of the City of New Orleans as a whole, benefits most Americans, given its unique cultural and historical significance. Probably most of us would be willing to donate money to its reconstruction, and likely have. But one person's donation benefits, to a small extent, another person because the non-donor gets the pleasure of seeing the city restored without having to pay for it. These "positive externalities" from charitable giving will tend to lead to inappropriately small voluntary contributions towards reconstruction of a site of national importance, after a natural disaster.

Spending a little government money is therefore appropriate, even if the money is obtained by taxation. Not all government programs are equally awful. But the rebuilding effort does seem to be headed in the wrong direction, whether one is a libertarian or not.

And public officials in New Orleans and Louisiana are not known for being frugal.