Flooding and the Gubmnt
There continues to be flooding in and near Fredricton, New Brunswick, and along the St. John River. As I watched the CTV news about the floods, I was struck by the repetition of a scene we have observed so often:
Interviewer: Premier, what is the gubmnt doing to help people who have been hurt by the flooding?I would strongly support a politician who responded instead,
Premier then lists all the gubmnt programmes designed to help bail out people who choose to live in areas of flood risk.
Nothing. Nothing at all. People harmed by the flood chose to assume risks by living where they did; they knew when they bought their houses that there was no private insurance available for flood damage, and I see no reason for the taxpayers in general to be forced to provide insurance for people who make such risky decisions.
Having said this, my heart goes out to those who took a gamble, bought property that was affected by the flood, and lost, and I encourage their friends and neighbours to band together to provide community support for helping these people get back on their feet, presumably on higher ground. To that end, I am personally making a donation to local charities, and I hope others will do so, too.
Category: Economics Posted on
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 2:01am
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What it should do is create and confirm the expectation that in times of similar crises, the government credibly commits to do nothing, so people know and plan accordingly.
But that goes against everything that government stands for: opportunistic behavior, flip-flopping, pandering, dispersion of costs for concentrated benefits, etc.
Having said this, I recognize that I will be seen as heartless as will be soundly defeated in the next election. I have advised my assistant to polish up my resume as I look forward to returning to the private sector.
As nice as it might be to re-elect for someone like that, I cannot imagine anyone who so recklessly disregards their own interests would get political power in the first place.