After reading a well-reasoned piece in UConn’s Daily Campus writtenby Thomas Dilling, it is difficult to avoid reaching the conclusion that presidential
candidate Ron would make a far better
governor of Connecticut than present Governor Dannel Malloy.
Mr. Malloy earned 15 minutes of fame recently for calling
Mr. Paul an idiot. Mr. Paul suggested doing away with FEMA and delegating its
powers to states and municipalities.
“Although the governor will likely dismiss me as an idiot,”
Mr. Dilling writes , “there is good reason for Connecticut to believe that FEMA should not be a
federal responsibility.”
Surely, Mr. Dilling reasons, the flow of money from
Connecticut to Texas should interest Connecticut’s governor: “…according to
FEMA's website, Texas leads the nation in declared disasters since 1953 with 85
compared to Connecticut's 27 (47th place). Yet, despite this realization that
FEMA takes money from Connecticut and spends it in Texas, Connecticut's
governor not only supports FEMA, but dismisses anyone who dares to question a
program with this type of structure as ‘an idiot…’
“In the absence of a federal program designed to subsidize more disaster-prone states such as Texas, the cost associated with these routine natural disasters would be paid out by the taxpayers of Texas, rather than the taxpayers of other states. Furthermore, abolishing a federal role in these routine disasters would give states and municipalities the incentive to be better prepared for when these events occur, rather than relying on federal support. The moral hazard associated with subsidizing states that are more disaster prone ought to be clear. By externalizing the costs associated with these disasters, it makes these states more attractive to people looking for places to live, putting more people in harm's way come future disasters. This hurts Connecticut's competitive standing against states like Texas who don't have to price the cost of disaster into their taxes.”
Mr. Dilling did not observe that politicians, as a general rule,
bathe themselves every morning in the baptismal font of moral hazard, but if he
continues to drink deep of the Pierian Spring, he may get there:
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
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