re: Are natural disasters good for the economy?

They're beneficial for the state's finances.

Katrina money initiatives are still being funneled through LDH's budget. A lot of the most recent budget problems are the result of increased spending on Medicaid that was from the influx of "one time" Fed money 10 years ago. Now that people have become accustomed to those "optional" programs, the legislature wont cut them, and has been increasingly scrambling for new funding sources.

Before the flood occurred, it was anticipated the legislature would be notified in October that the Healthy Louisiana program is experiencing an unforeseeable shortfall of about a couple hundred million. Fortunately, It appears there will soon be a new "one time" Fed insertion that should ease that pain.