James Barksdale, 63, who fought antitrust battles with Microsoft as chief executive of Netscape, has been leading a different sort of charge since September. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour asked Barksdale to head a commission to write a plan for revitalizing Katrina-devastated southern Mississippi. Barksdale and the Knight Foundation between them picked up the $2 million tab for the project. Barksdale, a descendant of a Confederate general and a resident of (undamaged) Jackson, Miss., spoke with FORBES shortly before his report was scheduled to be unveiled by Barbour.
Wouldn't businesses come back without that $29 billion in federal assistance?
The money causes things to move quicker than they would otherwise. Nobody would argue that business wouldn't come back. But without the incentives, those businesses wouldn't come back at the same speed or the same profitability or be able to hire the same number of employees. A big part of the reason homes and businesses can be rebuilt is because they got federal flood insurance.
How much of the reconstruction bill should taxpayers pay?
The vast majority of the dollars for rebuilding is certainly coming from private sources. The federal government, our congressmen and we, as taxpayers, don't like the idea of bailouts. We try to be mindful of that. Everyone is sympathetic to the enormity of the problems. But all of us are nervous when we look at these huge amounts of dollars.
What businesses are already coming back to Mississippi?
The casinos. Three of them opened in late December, after working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will employ almost 3,000 people. Next, developers are coming into the area as fast as we can meet with them. Fifty thousand housing units in Mississippi were destroyed. Just building back those units will make construction our largest industry.
Is there profiteering going on?
There's a lot of property being sold right now but not at reduced [prices]. That's free enterprise. You've got this perfect juxtaposition of the rights of private property holders versus the other great American tradition of democracy. When those two come together, you've got a lot of conflict and a lot of opportunities. These kinds of things bring out the best in people, and, unfortunately, they bring out the worst.
Would you start a company in southern Mississippi right now?
For certain types of businesses this is going to be a great opportunity. There's going to be a great amount of funding and tax incentives coming into the area--that makes opportunities for business. But if I needed a lot of specialized employees, it would be difficult unless I could bring them with me.
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