concluding that the problem with Corps of Engineers spending in Louisiana was not a lack of funding (Louisiana receives more than any other state), but an intentional direction by Louisiana politicians of such funds to pork barrel projects that would provide immediate political benefits instead of to boring flood control. Indeed, the article suggests that the Corps of Engineers exists almost entirely to fund pork barrel projects. So much for those who argue that the essential problem was parsimonious Republicans or a weak state. The essential problem (beyond Mother Nature), as is often the case, was short-sighted politicians.