Bill from NY, I did not mean that it's weird that people worry about things like that. What I do find strange is that that's someone's first reaction when they hear about a disaster like this one.

TJGuy: Yeah I know what you mean about lots of people standing around wanting to collect a paycheck. Only a few willing to work. We have the some problem here. The builders like KB, Lennar, and Pulte sub all their work out and do not have to pay benefits.

They have changed the building codes here so that we to have to use the "hurricane ties" on roof trusses. That is in the two metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson. In Mohave county if it is out in the county, a building permit takes about five minutes to get, you have to show a sketch as to where the house is going to sit with respects to the lot lines. The building permit for a 1500 foot house would cost about $95.00, the only inspection would be on the septic by the state health department. Here in the Phoenix area God help you on the cost of the permits and inspections.

Two of my guys quit last week to go to the Gulf Coast and work, one of the wives called today to see if her husband could come back to work. I guess things are in a real mess as to getting started to put things back together. Apparently it is not going good at all.

Pia, Americans could use the Finnish concept Sisu in this time of hardships.

ha ha ...$95.00 for a building permit - damn - I think it costs more than that to pull a pool permit in Florida. I'm moving to your neck of the woods. Is beer cheap?

TJGuy: Keep in mind that is outside the incorporated towns in remote Mohave county.I don't know about the cost of beer, Dr. made me give up booze.

Alright Amigos, I agree it's time to go to work cleaning up and rebuilding, recovering from maybe the worst natural disaster ever. I would like to just throw out some ideas as I have been involved in the construction industry all my life as a worker, superintendent, owner, and rep. I have seen what happens in reconstruction after disasters occur and how FEMA, the insurance industry,other bureaucracy's usually bottleneck up due to paperwork shuffling, then when the public outcry becomes too much the money just hemmorage's out without any oversight and the con artist's, scammers,incompetent contractors,etc; just have a field day with public $$.
First of all I think we need a real tough Federal Czar,that has the manpower and teeth to cut through bs including any state or local ordinance's,fee's, or any political crap that would prevent streamlining the recovery effort. How about a clearinghouse agency that could screen and ok any contractor in the US for work in the disaster areas, and if ok'd also cover all or most overhead cost's such as workers comp, bonding capacity, liability ins etc', local permit or business licence,that crap! Then help with housing these skilled workers and making sure that there is a uniform "Davis Bacon" wage scale period!(but it's got to be good $$ to get good workers, and good profit but fair for the Contractor), Prevent the usual rip off by the "white shirts",(a dozen overpaid Architects, Consultants,Inspectors getting a $1,000.00 a day for nothing,) Then let's get all the unemployed workers from accross the US and set up a kind of a boot camp, train them for 4 to 6 wks?,to perform the cleanup and demolition of the rubble,if they don't have a very good reason for not enlisting they get their unemployment or welfare cut off! They sign up for maybe a year or whatever it takes to finish, and maybe train some of these guys to become craftsmen with an incentive for advancement? Also and maybe most important we should put a moritorium on any building materials (cement, steel, roofing, wood products,etc;) from being exported until the recovery is completed. Sorry but due to the low exchange of the $ and huge profits made by selling to the Asian Countries we need these products here for our own, and there must be price controlls on building products until recovery( We may all have to suffer for a while!) Well just some ideas, what do you think?
Adelante!

Nah,

Let's justhHand it over to Halliburton.

Honestly, no sarcasm at all, you do have some pretty good ideas in there Fulano. It's just too bad in that cesspool of liberalism, where already Democratic leaders are abusing the system, a la William Jefferson, I doubt your many good ideas would stand a chance.

Fulano: Is that you buddy? Taking people off of welfare and unemployment, making them work. My God, have you been reading the books by Ronald Reagan? "Good but fair profit for contractors."
I am not going to copy the one paragraph that I liked the most, that is the one about cutting through the chaf & b/s and just getting the job done.

Fulano buddy, I hate to tell you this but that post could have been written by Ronny Raygun, Bush Sr, Gerald Ford, Bush Jr., or the Desert Dweller. You had somethings in there that leaned to the left, but for the most part anyone of the above listed Republicans could have written it. Even Tricky Dick would have liked that one about taking people off of welfare and unemployment, and making them work, I know the Desert Dweller likes it.

Hang in there Fulano, there is obviously a rey of hope for you.

Fulano for President 2008.

Hey guys let's have some ideas! ANd you know Gazpacho what I have proposed is a plan to keep the Halliburton's from ripping off the public due to the "no bid contract" Bs that will allow them and only them to profit by "subcontracting" out everything from cleanup to food services to construction, to providing tents for workers at exorbinant charges, probably thru a "GSA" type contract with no ceiling or limit on line item cost's! And it's funny you mention the litany of Conservative Presidents as "get to work,no nonsense guys", name one of your hereos examples where that was the case. With them it's always about campaign contributions! The only example of "take charge no bs" leaders that comes to mind with me would be FDR and his WW2 policy's and also his saving the country from revolution during the depression, also Truman and his battle with the "robber barons" (steel and coal industry) of his time. But let's get busy now, put partisan politic's aside, start to get the country back on it's feet and prepare for future emergency's because it's obvious to me our present leadership is inadequate and his supporting cast are like the palace eunuch's. Come on it's time for the people to stand up and take charge!

Awwwwwwwww no,

Just when I was a "running scared" conservative about to jump on the Hilary bandwagon.

By George, he's almost got it.

Fulano for President!!!!! NOW!!

Just read your last post. I'll keep politics out of it, but you first. By the way, that was DD's list of presidents, but knowing him, he's right. Anyway, he's talking about the books they wrote.

Anyway this country isn't about presidents, it's about the people in this country like DD, Alando, you and me. We're the one's that make this a great place, and ,yes, seriously Pippo, the greatest there ever was, is and will be.