Libertarian Librarian

Every year, hurricanes pound the Gulf Coast and Eastern shores of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and points further North. Most years, mudslides send huge and expensive homes smashing down Californian hillsides, and forest fires ravage properties and burn homes to the ground.

So, why do we send Federal money to these areas every time? I mean, if you know that you just built your new house, or purchased your new condo, on a piece of property that regularly gets whacked by hurricanes, don't you deserve to suffer for your stupidity rather than expecting the government to step in? If you build a house like these, on the sides of huge hills, should you be bailed out when the rain washes your living room into the ocean?

I'm not talking about people who pay the exorbinant insurance rates-- that's what it's for, afterall-- I'm talking about all the schmucks who don't insure their house and then get FEMA money to have the thing rebuilt. On the exact SAME spot. Until the next time around.

I don't mean to seem hardhearted or unsympathetic, but at some point, don't you have to say enough-- you want to rebuild this place, knowing that it's a favorite hangout for the Ivan's, Dennis' and Katrina's of the world, you do it on your own dime, or with private insurance money. FEMA will no longer bail you out. We'll give you food, water and maybe some temporary shelter, but the cost of demolishing your house and building a new one is your own lookout.

And, this will come as a shock to you all, I'm sure, it appears that FEMA is poorly managed and does not target its resources very well. Now, again, I don't have all that much sympathy for the poor folks that got whacked by Charley last year-- you live in Florida, this big 'ole chunk of land sticking straight out into the traditional stomping grounds of Atlantic hurricanes. What did you expect? But this little tidbit does seem pretty ridiculous:

Congresswoman Harris says Congress intended for some of the $8.5 billion it allocated for hurricane relief to help the rural communities of Hardee and Desoto counties. But while those communities wait, homeowners in Miami Dade County, which never suffered a direct hit, have already cashed $30-million in FEMA checks.

One's rural and relatively poor. One's urban and relatively rich. So naturally most of the money is going to the rich area.

Sigh.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like most of New Orleans got off the hook relatively easily--and I stress the word relatively-- with next door Mississippi taking the worst of the storms fury. Apparently, it could have been much, much worse for the home of the 'Aints. Which raises the question of why? If everybody knows that a category 4 or 5 hurricane smashing directly over the top of New Orleans will be absolutely devastating, shouldn't we be doing something about it? Especially since New Orleans is a major center for the nation's oil industry?

This is the second near miss in less than 10 years. And I'm not sure what the answer is, since I am not a civil engineer, nor do I play one on my blog, but I think we ought to at least be trying to find the solution, don't you? Instead we just seem to cross our fingers and hold our breath every time a hurricane comes near to New Orleans.