| Headline: Big Easy shakes off big crime blues Source: Euromoney Date: March 2000 Students of oil-dependent economies the world over would be quick to sympathize with the Big Easy, and to recognize the root cause of the mess it had managed to cook up for itself. Confident that oil prices were a one-way bet, New Orleans did not worry too much about what Miami was doing to establish itself as the transportation hub of choice linking the US with South America and as a banking centre. Nor did the city concern itself unduly about squandering its money on incidentals such as public education or law enforcement. This, after all, was the Big Easy; the place to eat crawfish pie and have big fun on the Bayou. |