Government cannot save us from storms. The free market can do the best job of enabling the best and strongest buildings built in the best geographic locations for the cheapest prices and will be ensured the best to ensure everyone in society can get through this natural disaster with the least pain and suffering possible. Walter Block says it here, "It cannot be denied that this great city of Texas is one of the least governed of all major cities. Indeed, for many years it had virtually no zoning regulations at all, and even nowadays they are fewer and more far between and significantly less onerous than in many other cities, Texas included. To this statement I have two comments. First, the deaths from Katrina in New Orleans and surrounding territories was in the neighborhood of 1,900. So far, as of this writing, those from Houston are at 38. Don’t get me wrong. Every one of those 38 lives was precious. Many, most of them, could have been saved if Houston had less central planning, and more free enterprise. But when you compare 1,900 and 38, we are talking about the difference between developed and undeveloped economies. Second, people like this who trash Houston’s (relative) support of free enterprise should read the monumental works of Bernie Siegan, our point man on free enterprise in Houston:
Siegan, Bernard H. 1970. “Non-Zoning in Houston,” Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. XIII, No. 1, April;
Siegan, Bernard. 1972. Land Use Without Zoning, Lexington MA: Heath.
On RICO and watermelon environmentalists:
Parker, 2015; Kasper, 2015; Moran, 2015; Bastasch, 2015; Barillas, 2015; Driessen, 2017
Parker, Bruce. 2015. “Vermont climate scientist wants RICO prosecutions of climate change opponents.” September 24;
Kasper, Matthew. 2015. “Roy Spencer, Climate Skeptic, wants RICO Investigation of Environmentalists.” November 9
Moran, Rick. 2015. “Some scientists want to prosecute global warming skeptics under the RICO Act.” September 20
Barillas, Martin. 2015. “Environmentalists seek shut-down of Catholic climate debate.” June 3;
Driessen, Paul. 2017. “The Ignorance, Intolerance, and Violence of the ‘Climate Crusaders.’”May 2;
On Katrina:
Anderson, 2005; Block, 2005A, 2005B, 2005C, 2006A, 2006B; Block and Rockwell, 2007; Chamlee-Wright and Rothschild, 2007; Cowen, 2006; Culpepper and Block, 2008; Lora, 2006; Murphy, 2005; Rockwell and Block, 2010; Thornton, 1999; Vuk, 2006A, 2006B
Anderson, William. 2005. “Katrina and the Never-Ending Scandal of State Management,” September, 13;
Block, Walter E. 2005A. “Then Katrina Came.” September 3,
Block, Walter E. 2005B. “The Answer to Katrina.” September 11.
Block, Walter E. 2005C. “Government and the Katrina Crisis.” The Free Market. Vol. 26, No. 10, October;
Block, Walter E. 2006A. “Katrina: Private Enterprise, the Dead Hand of the Past, and Weather Socialism; An Analysis in Economic Geography.” Ethics, Place and Environment: A Journal of Philosophy & Geography; Vol. 9, No. 2, June, pp. 231-241; reprinted in ‘Post-Katrina: Risk Assessment, Economic Analysis and Social Implications’– edited by Harry Richardson, Peter Gordon and James Moore. Edward Elgar Publishing;
Block, Walter E. 2006B. Interview: November 1, 2006. New Orleans, LA. Access Television, channel 76. W.C. Johnson Show Our Story. “Katrina and the aftermath.”
Block, Walter and Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. 2007. “Katrina and the Future of New Orleans,” Telos, Vol. 139, Summer, pp. 170-185
Chamlee-Wright, Emily and Daniel Rothschild. 2007. “Disastrous Uncertainty:
How Government Disaster Policy Undermines Community Rebound,” Mercatus Center
Cowen, Tyler. 2006. “An Economist Visits New Orleans: Bienvenido, Nuevo Orleans” April 19;
Culpepper, Dreda and Walter E. Block. 2008. “Price Gouging in the Katrina Aftermath.” International Journal of Social Economics; Vol. 35, No. 7, pp. 512-520;
Lora, Manuel. 2006. “What Happened to Katrina Aid? “ March 3;
Murphy, Robert P. 2005. “How the Market Might Have Handled Katrina” November 17.
Rockwell, Jr., Llewellyn H. and Walter E. Block. 2010. “The Economics and Ethics of Hurricane Katrina,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Vol. 69, No. 4, October, pp. 1294-1320
Thornton, Mark. 1999. “The Government’s Great Flood.” September, Volume 17, Number 9;
Vuk, Vedran. 2006A. “Journalism and Underwater Basket Weaving” June 21.
Vuk, Vedran. 2006B. “Socialist Man in the Big Easy.” September 25."
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