Katrina vs Logistics

Katrina sure woke up the political establishment, and handed George Bush an unexpected challenge.  The president that got such good marks for his handling of the September 11th disaster, didn’t get such glowing reviews from the Katrina worriers.  Granted, there didn’t seem to be any Rudy Giuliani helping Bush look good in New Orleans.  Even if this signals the end of the Bush era as some political opinion writers seem to think, we in the logistics area should be careful.  We might not like what happens next.  

The Highway Bill passed and signed into law by Bush before Katrina has been roundly criticized as being laden with political pork.  While I am concerned with some of the excessive spending this bill entails, I am also very concerned about our sagging transportation infrastructure.  Its not just our highways that are creaking, our rail and ocean port infrastructure are also being strained to the breaking point.  Now some political budget hawks are suggesting that the $200 billion “Katrina Get Well Present” be financed by cutting from the highway bill.  I am definitely for responsible debt management, but our highway infrastructure, especially in the high density corridors is sadly needing a jolt in the arm.   I urge Congress to be carefully weigh the knee jerk temptation of stealing from our highways to pay off Katrina ….