The Fire Department, The Police Department, And Capitalism
All three save lives. It's popular to sneer at the police and capitalism as sources of brutality, but as Donald J. Boudreaux writes at PJM, capitalism seems to be the difference between living and dying in the aftermath of an earthquake:
Registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, the Haitian earthquake killed tens of thousands of people. But the quake [2] that hit California's Bay Area in 1989 was also of magnitude 7.0. It killed only 63 people.This difference is due chiefly to Americans' greater wealth. With one of the freest economies in the world, Americans build stronger homes and buildings and roads, are better nourished, and have better health care and better search and rescue equipment. In contrast, burdened by one of the world's least-free economies, Haitians cannot afford to build sturdy structures and roads. (Haitian builders often add sand to their concrete because concrete is so expensive there. The result is weaker buildings.) Nor can Haitians afford the health care and emergency equipment that we take for granted here in the U.S.
Read a brief history of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, on Wikipedia or elsewhere. Contemplate why the two countries have turned out such different results. They share an island, have faced very similar problems over time, and yet: Haiti has 80% unemployment and no functioning government, whereas the Dominican Republic is basically a normal country.
Massive international aid will flow into Haiti over the next few years. As with all such efforts, it will help in the short-term. In the long term, it will disappear without a trace and Haiti will be no better off than before.
bradley13 at January 17, 2010 10:18 PM
It's a heartbreaking situation in Haiti.
Also, despite the best building codes and construction, Haiti has an unfortunate geographical situation. Earthquakes and hurricanes.
If California, with all its retrofitting and buildings built to our earthquake code endured a cat 3,4 or 5 storm, we would have quite a catastrophe on our hands as our buildings do not contemplate for such natural disasters. Concrete block is the way to go in areas predisposed to windstorms.
Donate if you can - and pick a well reputable organization.
Feebie at January 17, 2010 10:30 PM
I'm sorry for the Hatians. But the has been a sewer pit for years. Now it will be a semi-well built pit.
Jim P. at January 18, 2010 4:14 AM
Don't you know, Amy, the reason Haiti is so poor is greedy Americans hoggin' the wealth! No doubt it's also because of racism.
momof4 at January 18, 2010 5:02 AM
I'm thinking that the best thing we could do for Haiti is to write it off, move everyone out of it to some place else, and give the land to the DR.
I mean, it's been totally deforested so mudslides are a normal occurrence. It's been run by one kleptocracy or another continuously since the rebellion. And it's not going to get better no matter how much aid we throw at it.
In other words, if all the people have going for them is nationalist pride, they haven't got anything to lose.
brian at January 18, 2010 6:33 AM
There have been some good discussions on Marginal Revolution about the causes of poverty in Haiti. This essay, which I found via MR, gives a good overview.
Pseudonym at January 18, 2010 8:38 AM
let that blowhard in venezuela help the haitians, not one dime of taxpayer money should go to haiti as cash. Security, rescue, and medical is enough and will cost us billions without the 100 million that idiot in the white house has pledged.
ron at January 18, 2010 9:50 AM
it's very fashionable among the chic hip liberal urban hipster set to sneer at the police and capitalism. Sneer!
Crusader at January 18, 2010 12:31 PM
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