Let me emphasize again that I am talking here only about volcano
monitoring. Rick Monteverde and Jindal may be correct about the
overall recovery plan. I have not looked at it. For all I know, it
could be 90% "pork" and wasted money on unnecessary functions of
government. Naturally I understand that some people favor government
investment in things wind energy and others oppose it. These are
complicated issues.
What is not complicated is that volcano monitoring is not pork or
waste. It is an essential function of government. Many other
functions of government sound like a farfetched waste of money to
people unfamiliar with modern technology.
Rick wrote:
But first, handle the HUGE economic emergency facing us with
appropriate action.
Obama and I think that the most appropriate action is to make vital
repairs to the national infrastructure. This serves two purposes:
1. It saves lives and money -- it saves much more money than it costs.
2. It promotes economic growth according to Keynesian theory.
Perhaps we are wrong about #2. I do not know enough about economics
to judge the validity of Keynesian theory. I do know about
technology, and things like bridges, volcano monitoring, salmonella
and food safety, and what the people at CDC do.
Salmonella monitoring by the government at peanut factories is a good
example. It costs practically nothing. It adds a tiny fraction of one
penny to a kilogram of peanuts. And what happens when it is not done
properly? Salmonella breaks out, hundreds of people get sick, dozens
of people die, billions of dollars worth of food must be thrown away,
companies go out of business, and the public raises hell. Decades ago
we lived with this kind of risk because we had to. People will not
put up with it today!
Obviously we cannot trust the factory owners to monitor themselves.
As one of the innocent factory managers explained: "most people will
follow the rules but it only takes one or two to destroy the industry."
As for the supposedly horrendous cost of government and the economic
disaster we face, I think we should tax the wealthiest top 10% of the
country to pay for this mess, just as we taxed them for the First and
Second World Wars. Just raise their taxes back up to 80% or so for a
few years until the problems blow over and the economy recovers. They
can easily afford it, believe me. I am in the top 10%. (Not in income
but in net assets.) I know a lot of other people who are. Wealthy
people get far more benefits from government than the rest of
society. Also, note that wealthy people caused this mess on Wall
Street, and benefited from the policies that led up to it. Not all of
us, of course!
I do not oppose wealth and I am certainly no socialist. Wealth allows
me to promote cold fusion pretty much full time, which is a good
thing. But there are times when rich people have to fork over and
make sacrifices proportional to their wealth and circumstances in
life. You need not feel sorry for them. Except when they are drafted
to serve in war, they are never called upon to make the kind of
sacrifices poor people make every day of their lives.
- Jed
