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How about simply restoring electrical power and removing price controls? I don’t see how commandeering Air Force planes and cruise ships efficiently solves the problems. Stop letting help be turned away by unions.

It’s interesting to keep hearing recommendations to ditch protocols or cut bureaucratic red tape. It suggests to me that stuff isn’t necessary in the first place.

How about simply restoring electrical power and removing price controls? I don’t see how commandeering Air Force planes and cruise ships efficiently solves the problems. Stop letting help be turned away by unions.

Hear, hear!

The greater majority of the unavailability of gasoline is due to a lack of power rather than a shortage of the gasoline. I live in NJ and 2 days after the storm I travelled just 10 mikes to an area with power and spent all of 10 minutes in line before filling up.

In areas which were devastated such as Seaside, Long Beach Island and Atlantic City there is a problem getting to the gas stations because of roadway debris. In most areas it is simply no power to operate the pumps.

The greater majority of the unavailability of gasoline is due to a lack of power rather than a shortage of the gasoline. I live in NJ and 2 days after the storm I travelled just 10 mikes to an area with power and spent all of 10 minutes in line before filling up.

In areas which were devastated such as Seaside, Long Beach Island and Atlantic City there is a problem getting to the gas stations because of roadway debris. In most areas it is simply no power to operate the pumps.

How about simply restoring electrical power and removing price controls?

That is an OUTCOME, not a plan. Unfortunatel, that is too commo among conservatives especially libertarians: To confuse an end result with a plan for getting there.

They have been working on restoring electrical power for a week. The problem is HOW when crews don't have the gas to get around the city and paths are clogged, more than usual in tha area, and there is confusion.

Do you imagine utility repair crews are simply sitting by the side of the road and NOT restoring power while they watch the world go by?

I do believe that the government needs to stay out of the private sector and not interfere with business.

But emergencies are fndamentally different. What do you think military air craft and resources are for? When there is a disruption of the normal markets from a natural disaster or from war, the government is perfectly appropriate in providing assistance. The government should not be an on-going part of the business world. But it should provide assistance in emergencies.

WHen your house is on fire you COULD go out in the sreet and begin bargaining with people in your neighborhood to pay them to help you put out the fire. But having a pre-existing fire department trained and equipped is more efficient and effective -- even in economic terms -- than trying to come up with your own ad hoc team to put the fire out in your house.

That's especially true where time is important. The ability of the market place to eventually respond is not the same as the losses that will occur without quick action. in New Jersey, temperatures are dropping and people don't have power.