All Posts Tagged With: "natural disasters"
Disaster Response Restores Confidence in Government?
In a memorable episode of the cult-classic cartoon series “The Tick,” the title character is seen in the local café regaling fellow superheroes with his latest adventure, in which he single-handedly stopped an alien plot that would have sucked the earth into a black hole. Skeptical, one of the other heroes responds, “Can you prove [...]
4Jan2012 | Tyler Watts | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Militarization of Compassion
This article first appeared at TheFreemanOnline.org. John Stuart Mill wrote in his Principles of Political Economy that “what has so often excited wonder” in observers is “the great rapidity with which countries recover from a state of devastation; the disappearance, in a short time, of all traces of the mischiefs done by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, [...]
22Jun2011 | Peter J. Boettke | 4 comments | ContinuedThe Preamble They Should’ve Written
Did the Founding Fathers get it right? Is the Constitution they drafted a secure basis for limited government? Many conservatives suppose so and believe the drift to big government has simply been a case of not reading the directions on the package. Last January these conservatives ordered that the Constitution be read aloud at the [...]
22Jun2011 | James L. Payne | 21 comments | ContinuedIt’s Only Gouging When They Do It
Those who complain about “price gouging” (some of whom are probably receiving higher wages through the same process) need to be consistent.
12May2011 | Steven Horwitz | 10 comments | ContinuedJapan’s Supposed Silver Lining
The Japanese people are going through sheer horror. To spin this tragedy into economic triumph is not just bad economics; it’s an obscenity.
23Mar2011 | William L. Anderson | 16 comments | ContinuedThe Militarization of Compassion
We must not ignore the decentralized coordinating processes behind rescue efforts and humanitarian assistance.
21Mar2011 | Peter J. Boettke | 8 comments | ContinuedCapitalism and Natural Disasters
Six of America’s ten most powerful storms have struck during the past half-century, yet only one of them (Katrina) is among
Americas ten deadliest hurricanes.
Uncle Sam’s Flood Machine
When NASAs Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars in 1997 and sent back pictures showing that the planet was once flooded, comic Alan Ray quipped: “Of course, Mars lacks the one factor that makes high waters on Earth so much more devastating. Mars has no FEMA.”
1Jan2006 | James Bovard | 5 comments | ContinuedAnother National Disaster in the Making: Government Reconstruction of New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans at the end of August. What followed was a further disaster in the form of government incompetence and confusion at the local, state, and
federal levels. Rarely have we seen a better instance of what Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises once rightly called “planned chaos.”
Hurricane Katrina: Government versus the Private Sector
If the “American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn’t be in this crisis.” Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, paraphrasing Sheriff Harry Lee during an interview on “Meet the Press,” got to the root of all that went wrong in the buildup to and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last August. “It’s [...]
1Oct2005 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedOn Price Gouging
The immediate aftermath of a natural disaster inevitably brings much higher prices for staple goods, such as lumber, batteries, fuel, and bottled water. Just as inevitably, these higher prices are roundly decried as unjust and inexcusable. Such price hikes are slapped with the derisive name “price gouging.” And even people who typically endorse markets often [...]
1Apr2005 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedDestructive Destruction
If we sound like a broken record at times, it’s because sound economic thinking moves slowly through the culture. Case in point: On September 27, USA Today headlined what its reporter and editors must have thought was wonderful news: Economic growth from hurricanes could outweigh costs.” (At this point Dave Barry would say, “I’m not [...]
1Dec2004 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedOrissa’s Man-Made Tragedy
Barun Mitra is founder of Liberty Institute, an independent think tank in New Delhi, India. Reprinted by permission of The Asian Wall Street Journal, November 10, 1999. Copyright 1999, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. New Delhi—Twelve days after a super cyclone hit the state of Orissa, India is still grappling with [...]
1Feb2000 | Barun S. Mitra | 0 comments | ContinuedCensoring Pleas for Help
Ask people if they favor government censorship and the response will be a nearly unanimous no! Yet if you ask the same people if they favor government price controls, the response will be much more mixed. Ask them if the government should control prices to prevent “price gouging” after natural disasters, and the response will [...]
1Jan1999 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | Continued-
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