Coincidence?

The New York Times reports on the different rates of clean-up in the hurricane-ravaged gulf coast.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - There is an eerie stillness here on Edgewood Avenue. Toys, broken glass and random pieces of furniture are strewn across yards. Not a single person is in sight. The only movement, nearly four months after the passing of Hurricane Katrina, comes from the stray cats that jump in and out of the ripped-open homes.

Just west down the Gulf Coast, on Oak Street in Biloxi, the ground vibrates and the air is filled with the smell of diesel exhaust as laborers, on excavators, clean up after the storm, leaving behind empty lots, ripe for redevelopment.

There are many reasons for the difference between the lack of progress in Pascagoula and the quick cleanup in the Biloxi area. But officials here point fingers at what they consider the No. 1 culprit: the federal government and, in particular, the Army Corps of Engineers.

There are likely not too "many" reasons for the difference in clean-up progress (or the lack thereof). There is simply no comparison between outfits subsidized by tax dollars and those that operate for profit when it comes to efficiency and proficiency.

Damn that "greedy" private sector!