Hurricane Ian is gone, but media myths about hurricanes persist.
Journalists say the feds must lead disaster response, as if only the feds have the knowledge and the money to do so.
“The debate is already heating up over the scale of federal aid,” said CNN.
Why?! Don’t they know that the government has no money of its own? That everything federal bureaucrats spend is taken from us?
They don’t think about that.
Federal “disaster relief” is distributed after storms because, as the title The New York Times Put the“A big storm requires a big government.”
But this is not the case.
My video this week debunks four hurricane myths.
Myth #1: We need the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for disaster relief.
That’s just stupid, given FEMA’s history of incompetence.
FEMA has already spent millions on bottled water and expensive housing trailers. Then they just left them on an airfield.
Matt Mayer worked at the Department of Homeland Security during Hurricane Katrina. He says the federal government was just too bureaucratic to be of much help.
“States, people, communities, neighbors” are doing a much better job, Mayer told me.
FEMA fails because, like all government bureaucracies, there is no incentive to spend efficiently. Charities are more flexible and “they have been doing it for 200 years”.
Right now in Florida, as some people wait for FEMA, religious charities are helping people rebuild.
Myth #2: The government must stop greedy companies from abusing customers.
Some companies raise their prices as storms approach. Politicians call this “illegal price gouging”. It’s just stupid, if not cruel.
When storms approach, people rush to buy supplies. If stores don’t raise prices, people buy everything they might need, and probably things they won’t need. Early buyers purchase additional water bottles, generators, sandbags, etc.
Stores sell out, so only the fastest customers get what they need.
But if stores raise the prices of in-demand items, fewer people hoard and more people get what they need. Yes, it is difficult for the poorest, but the price increases give more incentive to stores to restock. Prices are coming down quickly.
Banning price hikes hurts more people.
After Hurricane Katrina, when John Shepperson learned that parts of Mississippi had lost power, he bought 19 generators, left the safety of his home, and drove 600 miles to the disaster area. He offered to sell his generators for double what he paid for them. People were eager to buy.
But the Mississippi police called it “the scam.” They imprisoned Shepperson and confiscated his generators.
I bet the cops used the generators themselves.
What the law calls “abuse” is just supply and demand. He saves lifes.
Myth #3: Hurricanes get worse.
The media says, “Storms are getting worse due to man-made climate change!” Are these “climate experts” sure it’s “man-made”? All? No matter.
When I showed a video of journalists talking about the strength of hurricanes to the late climatologist Pat Michaels, he shouted, “No, they are not! Look at all the hurricanes around the planet. We can see them since 1970 because we have global satellite coverage. We can measure their strength… There is no significant increase. ” There are not any.
Even our government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration admits“There is no strong evidence of increasing trends on a century scale in the United States… major hurricanes.”
There may be evidence in the future. But there are none now. That doesn’t stop the media fools from saying there are.
Myth #4: America must have government flood insurance. After all, private flood insurance is “too expensive”.
But private insurers charge more for a good reason: homes in flood-prone areas are more susceptible to flooding.
I should know. I once build a house near the ocean.
It was a stupid idea. The ocean was close by.
Private insurers wanted big premiums. I couldn’t afford it. I wouldn’t have built if I hadn’t found cheap government insurance. Thanks, Uncle Sam!
Ten years later, my house was washed away. It was upsetting, but I didn’t lose any money. You covered my loss.
I won’t do it again, but others will.
Until we learn the myths about government “help” we will continue to make the same costly mistakes.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.