Two very good points that have absolutely nothing to do with the these missing climbers on Mt. Hood.
By all means, rescue them. But when things settle down a bit....hand them a bill which I feel confident they'll be able to afford. The author was stating that he doesn't believe that this type of rescue operation should be paid for by taxpayers. And he is correct.
Second, this situation was well within their control. They purposely went into bad conditions thinking they'd prepared accordingly. They guessed wrong. Far different than the recent situation with the Kim family.
Stupidity should be painful.
Rescue Cost Recovery Debate
http://www.americanalpineclub.org/pdfs/MRcost.pdf