Katrina Set the Stage for New Orleans’s Capture by Investors

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans 20 years ago today. In the years after the storm, the city became a laboratory of Frankenstein proportions for the most extreme forms of privatization and deregulation.

Beg-Knows America is a regular feature on CBS Mornings. Hosted by native Louisianan David Begnaud, the show’s title is a play on his Cajun French surname. Begnaud focuses his segment on human interest stories, profiling ordinary Americans and their sometimes-remarkable everyday experiences. Against the “if it bleeds, it leads” logic of the legacy news cycle, Begnaud attempts to recall a different America — one too often buried in headlines of death, chaos, and political chicanery.

And while the neighbors-helping-neighbors narrative may be a strong tonic against cynicism, it is not above p