Well, I didn’t want to be depressed about the Cobell decision until I read this article (ht Xanthippas):

The tragedy of the Cobell settlement is that, apart from the possibility of establishing an educational trust fund, the money won’t likely change much of anything—it won’t raise Indians out of poverty, diminish rates of violence, or even make a whole lot of trust land viable and valuable. If approved by Congress, each account holder will be paid $1,000, plus an amount based on the value of their individual account. The 4.5 million Indians and Alaska Natives who don’t have trust accounts won’t get anything, and people living in their cars on their reservations won’t be moving into new homes. Meanwhile, interior still has to manage the trust based on a cobbled-together system of multiple adjustments to failing policies.

Nonetheless, a vastly improved accounting system, for those with accounts, is what people will get to celebrate when the settlement money is long gone.

I think that’s enough to ruin my day.