groups.google.com/group/politicalforum/attach/627cb713e878b74a/
MoonBats.jpg?part=4&view=1> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Why Climate Change Will Make You Love Big Government
> > Christian Parenti January 26, 2012
>
> > This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of
> > important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates
> > from TomDispatch.com.
>
> > Look back on 2011 and you'll notice a destructive trail of extreme
> > weather slashing through the year. In Texas, it was the driest year
> > ever recorded. An epic drought there killed half a billion trees,
> > touched off wildfires that burned four million acres and destroyed or
> > damaged thousands of homes and buildings. The costs to agriculture,
> > particularly the cotton and cattle businesses, are estimated at $5.2
> > billion—and keep in mind that, in a winter breaking all sorts of
> > records for warmth, the Texas drought is not yet over.
>
> > About the Author
> > Christian Parenti
> > Christian Parenti, a Nation contributing editor, fellow at The Nation
> > Institute and visiting scholar at the CUNY...
> > Also by the Author
> > Soaring Food Prices, Wild Weather and a Planetful of Trouble (Global
> > Warming and Climate Change, World)
> > From Kyrgyzstan to Kenya, from Libya to Yemen, Syria and even Egypt,
> > violence and upheaval can be traced back to the price of a loaf of
> > bread.
>
> > Christian Parenti 2 comments
> > Pakistan One Year After the Floods (Global Warming and Climate Change,
> > World)
> > When extreme weather hits amid extreme poverty, escape becomes nearly
> > impossible.
>
> > Christian Parenti 1 comment
> > Related Topics
> > August Disaster Environmental Issue Human Interest Natural Disaster
> > New York City Social Issues Technology United States World Bank east
> > coast In August, the East Coast had a close brush with calamity in the
> > form of Hurricane Irene. Luckily, that storm had spent most of its
> > energy by the time it hit land near New York City. Nonetheless, its
> > rains did at least $7 billion worth of damage, putting it just below
> > the $7.2 billion worth of chaos caused by Katrina back in 2005.
>
> > Across the planet the story was similar. Wildfires consumed large
> > swaths of Chile. Colombia suffered its second year of endless rain,
> > causing an estimated $2 billion in damage. In Brazil, the life-giving
> > Amazon River was running low due to drought. Northern Mexico is still
> > suffering from its worst drought in seventy years. Flooding in the
> > Thai capital, Bangkok, killed over 500 and displaced or damaged the
> > property of twelve million others, while ruining some of the world's
> > largest industrial parks. The World Bank estimates the damage in
> > Thailand at a mind-boggling $45 billion, making it one of the most
> > expensive disasters ever. And that's just to start a 2011
> > extreme-weather list, not to end it.
>
> > Such calamities, devastating for those affected, have important
> > implications for how we think about the role of government in our
> > future. During natural disasters, society regularly turns to the state
> > for help, which means such immediate crises are a much-needed reminder
> > of just how important a functional big government turns out to be to
> > our survival.
>
> > These days, big government gets big press attention—none of it
> > anything but terrible. In the United States, especially in an election
> > year, it's become fashionable to beat up on the public sector and all
> > things governmental (except the military). The Right does it nonstop.
> > All their talking points disparage the role of an oversized federal
> > government. Anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist famously set the tone for
> > this assault. "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government," he
> > said. "I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it
> > in the bathtub." He has managed to get 235 members of the House of
> > Representatives and forty-one members of the Senate to sign his
> > "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" and thereby swear never, under any
> > circumstances, to raise taxes.
>
> > By now, this viewpoint has taken on the aura of folk wisdom, as if the
> > essence of democracy were to hate government. Even many on the Left
> > now regularly dismiss government as nothing but oversized, wasteful,
> > bureaucratic, corrupt and oppressive, without giving serious
> > consideration to how essential it may be to our lives.
>
> > But don't expect the present "consensus" to last. Global warming and
> > the freaky, increasingly extreme weather that will accompany it is
> > going to change all that. After all, there is only one institution
> > that actually has the capacity to deal with multibillion-dollar
> > natural disasters on an increasingly routine basis. Private security
> > firms won't help your flooded or tornado-struck town. Private
> > insurance companies are systematically withdrawing coverage from
> > vulnerable coastal areas. Voluntary community groups, churches,
> > anarchist affinity groups—each may prove helpful in limited ways, but
> > for better or worse, only government has the capital and capacity to
> > deal with the catastrophic implications of climate change.
>
> > Consider Hurricane Irene: as it passed through the Northeast, states
> > mobilized more than 100,000 National Guard troops. New York City
> > opened seventy-eight public emergency shelters prepared to house up to
> > 70,000 people. In my home state, Vermont, where the storm devastated
> > the landscape, destroying or damaging 200 bridges, more than 500 miles
> > of road, and 100 miles of railroad, the National Guard airlifted in
> > free food, water, diapers, baby formula, medicine and tarps to
> > thousands of desperate Vermonters trapped in thirteen stranded
> > towns—all free of charge to the victims of the storm.
>
> > The damage to Vermont was estimated at up to $1 billion. Yet the state
> > only has 621,000 residents, so it could never have raised all the
> > money needed to rebuild alone. Vermont businesses, individuals and
> > foundations have donated at least $4 million, possibly up to $6
> > million in assistance, an impressive figure, but not a fraction of
> > what was needed. The state government immediately released $24 million
> > in funds, crucial to getting its system of roads rebuilt and
> > functioning, but again that was a drop in the bucket, given the level
> > of damage. A little known state-owned bank, the Vermont Municipal Bond
> > Bank, also offered low-interest, low-collateral loans to towns to aid
> > reconstruction efforts. But without federal money, which covered 80 to
> > 100 percent of the costs of rebuilding many Vermont roads, the state
> > would still be an economic basket case. Without aid from Washington,
> > the transportation network might have taken years to recover.
>
> > As for flood insurance, the federal government is pretty much the only
> > place to get it. The National Flood Insurance Program has written 5.5
> > million policies in more than 21,000 communities covering $1.2
> > trillion worth of property. As for the vaunted private market,
> > for-profit insurance companies write between 180,000 and 200,000
> > policies in a given year. In other words, that is less than 5 percent
> > of all flood insurance in the United States. This federally subsidized
> > program underwrites the other 95 percent. Without such insurance, it's
> > not complicated: many waterlogged victims of 2011, whether from record
> > Midwestern floods or Hurricane Irene, would simply have no money to
> > rebuild.
>
> > Or consider sweltering Texas. In 2011, firefighters responded to
> > 23,519 fires. In all, 2,742 homes were destroyed by out-of-control
> > wildfires. But government action saved 34,756 other homes. So you
> > decide: Was this another case of wasteful government intervention in
> > the marketplace, or an extremely efficient use of resources?
>
> > Facing Snowpocalypse Without Plows
>
> > The early years of this century have already offered a number of
> > examples of how disastrous too little government can be in the face of
> > natural disaster, Katrina-inundated New Orleans in 2005 being perhaps
> > the quintessential case.
>
> > There are, however, other less noted examples that nonetheless helped
> > concentrate the minds of government planners. For example, in the
> > early spring of 2011, a massive blizzard hit New York City. Dubbed
> > "Snowmageddon" and "Snowpocalypse," the storm arrived in the midst of
> > tense statewide budget negotiations and a nationwide assault on state
> > workers (and their pensions).
>
> > In New York, Mayor Mike Bloomberg was pushing for cuts to the
> > sanitation department budget. As the snow piled up, the people tasked
> > with removing it—sanitation workers—failed to appear in sufficient
> > numbers. As the city ground to a halt, New Yorkers were left to fend
> > for themselves with nothing but shovels, their cars, doorways, stores,
> > roads all hopelessly buried. Chaos ensued. Though nowhere near as
> > destructive as Katrina, the storm became a case study in too little
> > governance and the all-too-distinct limits of "self-reliance" when
> > nature runs amuck. In the week that followed, even the rich were
> > stranded amid the mounting heaps of snow and uncollected garbage.
>
> > Mayor Bloomberg emerged from the debacle chastened, even though he
> > accused the union of staging a soft strike, a work-to-rule-style
> > slowdown that held the snowbound city hostage. The union denied
> > engaging in any such illegal actions. Whatever the case, the blizzard
> > focused thinking locally on the nature of public workers. It suddenly
> > made sanitation workers less invisible and forced a set of questions:
> > Are public workers really "union fat cats" with "sinecures" gorging at
> > the public trough? Or are they as essential to the basic functions of
> > the city as white blood cells to the health of the human body?
> > Clearly, in snowbound New York it was the latter. No sanitation
> > workers and your city instantly turns chaotic and fills with garbage,
> > leaving street after street lined with the stuff.
>
> > More broadly the question raised was: Can an individual, a town,
>
> ...
>
> read more »
>
> MoonBats.jpg
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