No matter how hard they try, they can't stop all the looters. The front page of today's local paper in my town is showing a guy with a laundry basket full of beer. Guess he figured he could tie one on good and proper and ride out the remainder of the flood. Ah well. At least it's hot (no electricity to make ice or cool beer).

Understanding the Herculean efforts necessary to repair the damaged or destroyed levees and pump out the existing floodwaters, my biggest fear isn't so much the looting (everyone's pretty much lost everything there anyway), it's the disease which will follow. Look for outbreaks of disentery, influenza/pneumonia, rheumatic fever, and possibly even plague before this is over. That's raw sewage mixed with the flood waters they're wading in folks, along with well over 200 years worth of rotten garbage, not to mention the bacteria content from all those corpses (both fresh and in cemeteries) that're exposed to the water now. With medical treatment completely unavailable, no electricity, no routes out of the city save via boat, no way to cool off, no flushing water for toilets or drinking water or water in which to bathe, it's only a matter of time. They'll have their little looting party now, but sooner or later they'll learn they can't eat that TV they stole.

On price gouging - Shoot the bastards. The simplest solution is to not do business with them, and remember who tried to gouge. On 9/11 there was a guy who upped his gas price to well over $5 a gallon. Within minutes he had several hundred angry people in his store ready to tear his head off. It didn't help much that he was arabic either. The next morning the store was under new management, and within a week it was owned by someone else. A little anger en-masse goes a very long way.

Just my nickel's worth.