Sandy Claws back

News item:  More than two months after hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the tristate area were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Republicans in the House of Representatives intentionally killed the $60 billion bill passed by the Senate by refusing to bring it to a vote on New Year’s Day. - The Daily Beast


 I always like to get to the next question, and today, the next question is: HOW did we get to the point where the Federal government is expected to offer free storm insurance to New Jersey? Chris Christie is as bad as any pirate, wanting to have 49 states pay for his cleanup. The guy has some nerve.

Fortunately, the bill was too saturated with pork to make it to the top of the heap of 2012 House bills, so it got shelved for a couple of weeks. For some reason, shelving a spendulus bill that was two months in the making for a couple of weeks is some sort of crime, too. 

What is insidious about this is the assumption that the federal government has any charter here. San Francisco with their earthquake, Chicago with its fire, and Galveston with it's devastating hurricane all did much better by dealing with it locally. Contrast their disasters with Katrina and Sandy, and you can see what I mean. ... that in modern disasters, everyone waits around for the federal money. There's nothing efficient, compassionate, or economically beneficial about this arrangement. Here, we have whole chunks of society waiting for uncle sugar to rebuild their house for them. and indeed, he will. It's expected of a nanny government. The houses will be built on the same shores, and rebuilt again every 25 years when there's another hurricane. Doubt that? Check the construction schedule for the 9th Parish in New Orleans.

If the matter were to be dealt with locally, the people would be persuaded to build on higher ground, and the states resources would be more efficiently used for real assistance. As long as the free money rains down from Washington, nobody will feel the least bit of pressure to fix the roof.