Katrina update: nearly 100% of the reconstruction money has been awarded to firms located outside the affected area. This of course means that ultimately the reconstruction money will end up in the hands of firms who have little or no local presence in Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana. This is doubly true when one considers that any reconstruction efforts will be exempt from laws stating that the jobs they yield must pay at least the prevailing wage for that sort of work in the area, which is already quite meager. Even GOP Representatives are complaining about how nearly all the federal money is going to “large corporate players”. So, it does look like the Bush administration managed to use the hurricane as yet another way by which they can reward their cronies — business as usual prevails. Still, it could be worse, couldn’t it…