So I take it that, as long as we have FEMA to come rushing in with taxpayer money regardless of how stupid the risk, we don't need an insurance industry to manage competing risks and we don't need people preparing for risks. Let the Federal government decide what constitutes acceptable risks and bail people out regardless. Right?
Cain should know better.
True, unless the bill puts limits on what FEMA can do with the dough, this is asking for trouble. Obama is not your average fox. He’s not just cunning, he’s evil.
Most Freepers are probably too young to remember the pre-FEMA time when "insurance" was how these disasters were handled.
Cain should know better.
That's right. And the catchphrase "Stop playing with people's tragedies -- these are real people we're talking about" is the major excuse for the Nanny State: it could apply equally well to Rick Perry's Gardasil decision; Social Security; Medicare/Medicaid; ObamaCare; a "guaranteed minimum income" scheme; etc. Real people everywhere have problems and tragedies. That doesn't mean that they should "externalize the costs" of these tragedies by not adequately preparing for them and then having everyone else pay for them when they occur. That's not the function or role of a federal government.
I understand that one of the most effective first-responders during Katrina in New Orleans came from the private sector: Wal-Mart, which was able to stock and supply lots of bottles of fresh water to victims of the storm. FEMA was basically useless.