Katrina baby boom

What to make of this. According to the LA Times a Baby Boom Adds Life to Rebirth of New Orleans. A surge in Katrina babies is especially noticeable with fewer hospitals open. Medical staff and parents see the children as signs of hope.

This is conveyed as a feel-good story about close couples.

But as I understand it New Orleans has an out-of-wedlock birthrate of 60 percent, and amongst teenagers, 96 percent. It is one of the poorest cities with forty percent of adults functionally illiterate and a very high school drop-out rate.

According to Michael Tanner, Cato's welfare specialist, Louisianna is also one of the few states that still has a generous welfare system with no cap on benefits for additional children born out-of-wedlock.