A building in my apartment complex burned to the ground tonight. My building was unharmed, but it is very unsettling to have such an uncommon, horrible occurrence happen right next to your home, which is supposed to serve as the ultimate safe haven. It makes you think about things you don’t normally think about.
At least 15 people lost their homes in the fire, and representatives from the apartment complex came around and said that the Red Cross was on its way with vouchers, blankets, and other accessories. Often in political rhetoric I’ll hear discussion of how an evil thing called “privatization” is going to ruin everything, from forests to police forces to the Army. It seems that many, if not most, people think privatization = bad.
It’s interesting that after a fire, the Red Cross (a private organization) comes to the aid of those in need, who feel comfortable with that and from all reports that I’ve seen, are taken care of adequately. However, in situations on a much larger scale than fire, such as a flood or hurricane, FEMA gets called in along with the Red Cross and always manages to boggle the job spectacularly, sometimes in a way no one ever thought possible.
Why not get rid of the monstrosity that is FEMA, storing unused ice for two years and all, and allow the people who would be taxed for FEMA to donate the money instead to the Red Cross?
Tags: FEMA, apartment fire, Red Cross, privatization
[...] problems, and that as a result people are relying less on private organizations such as churches or nonprofits like the Red Cross. I view this as a bad thing. But the idea that government is taking over an emotional component of [...]
Libertarian Girl » Blog Archive » The New Opiate of the People- Government
December 11th, 2007
[...] to rely on their government for and pay with everyone’s taxpayer dollars? I’d take the Red Cross over FEMA any day, as well as the Nature Conservancy over the EPA. What about [...]
Libertarian Girl » Blog Archive » Newsflash! Nonprofits Help in Ways Government Can’t
January 26th, 2008
I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year. The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
I was raised in the Jewish tradition, taught never to marry a Gentile woman, shave on a Saturday night and, most especially, never to shave a Gentile woman on a Saturday night — Woody Allen
War doesn’t make boys men, it makes men dead — Ken Gillespie
When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, ‘Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe? — Quentin Crisp
emotional liar
February 20th, 2008
Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a hole in his head — Unknown
Believe those who are seeking the truth Doubt those who find it — Andr
ruthless tutor
February 20th, 2008
These are not the types of things my economics professors have always taught me. Whats your explanation for that?
Qisezzi
February 27th, 2008
Economics professors in the US are very socialist-leaning– take a look at the one who is often most admired, Paul Krugman. The things he writes (in the paper of record, the New York Times!) often make no sense and are not based on sound principles of economics at all. They sure do make Democrats happy, though, because he tells them that their ideas are working/will work. That’s how he keeps his jobs. There’s no one stepping out and saying that the emperor has no clothes. It’s hard to see how these people can get away with it– there is a “Krugman Truth Squad,” however, which documents the repeated errors made by Krugman.
Meanwhile, the greatest economist of them all, Milton Friedman, was totally for free markets and some revolutionary ideas– if an economist was brave enough to step out today and follow his lead they could have similar success. It’s amazing that no one does.
libertariangirl
February 27th, 2008