Although the Bush Administration’s troubles in devising and implementing a workable strategy for bringing civil order to Baghdad receives most of the mainstream’s media attention, the failure of government to facilitate order in New Orleans and rebuilding throughout the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast region is a more appalling failure (earlier post here).
It’s not as if my expectations for government in the New Orleans region are all that high — I’d be satisfied with ensuring law and order, making sure that basic services are provided and creating an environment where entreprenuers will take the risk of starting businesses that will create badly-needed jobs for the residents of the area. In this NY Times article, Adam Nossiter continues his series of excellent series of articles over the past year regarding the failure of the local and state governments in New Orleans to ensure law and order and the devastating effect that failure is having on the region.
Meanwhile, in another not as well-reported failure of government, this NY Times article reports on the Oreck Corporation’s decision to move its maufacturing facility and 500 jobs from the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi to Tennessee, in large part because of the company’s difficulties in arranging insurance for its operations in Mississippi. As Ted Frank observes, the lack of insurance coverage is the direct result of Mississippi courts expansion of the coverage of insurance contracts beyond their plain terms and the state legislature’s response to those court decisions, which “has [made] things worse: criticize the businesses who have left, and seek to further regulate the price of insurance, despite thousands of years of evidence that limiting the price will reduce the amount supplied and lead to shortages.”
But at least the region has (for this season anyway) a good professional football team, which continues to exist in New Orleans only because local and state governments in Louisiana found the time and resources to arrange several hundred million in emergency funding for the team and its facilities. And even that subsidy might not work in the long run. As usual, the government has its priorities in order.
By the way, while on the subject of interesting Ted Frank blog posts, don’t miss this one.
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It’s not as bad as that whole Vince Young thing, but Badsports’ Kevin Whited and Scott over at H-Town Sports do raise a valid question in wondering how wide receiver Jabar Gaffney (the second draft pick in the Texans’ history) has gone from Texans castoff to playoff star for the New England Patriots?