That large numbers of people wouldn’t want to return to New Orleans after such devastation is not surprising; it’s often the case that city populations shift after a natural disaster. After the Great Fire of London, for example, many former residents never returned (a substantial proportion emigrated to the American colonies). But they are replaced by people who come to help rebuild and then stay, which means a new risk-taking, entrepreneurial population, and that may well be a good thing. On the other hand, there are plenty of people so emotionally attached to the city that they will return, as the optimistic reaction to the President’s speech last night by the ABC audience shows. And it looks like they’re angry about what state and local government did, not the Feds. That sounds like more good news to me.