Planet Katrina? Asteroids, World Destruction, and Tax Cuts For the Wealthy

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/5902

Planet Katrina? Asteroids, World Destruction, and Tax Cuts For the Wealthy
by RJ Eskow

Here's a sentence a guy just hates to read over morning coffee: "NASA officials say the space agency is capable of finding almost every asteroid that might pose a devastating threat to Earth, but because it lacks the money to do it, the job will not get done."

Democrats should run with this astonishing, yet strangely unsurprising, revelation: Even the possible extinction of all life on the planet isn't enough to persuade Republicans to moderate their reckless policies - policies founded on greed and hostility toward government.

We already knew they were endangering humanity's future with their policies about global warming. Their negligent attitude toward FEMA and the levees in New Orleans told us they were willing to put cronyism as budget cuts above urgent warnings about short-term and immediate dangers. The philosophy that seeks a government "small enough to drown in a bathtub" was willing to accept the chance there might be some collateral damage, too.

What this story does, however, is encapsulate the downside of their entire approach in one anecdote. We're somehow wealthy enough to provide luxurious tax breaks to the richest 2% of Americans, but not to find funding to protect us from planetary danger.

I'm not saying they knew Katrina was going to happen when it did. We never know these things - especially not the timing. We deal in probabilities. What the levees of Katrina and the mismanagement of FEMA should have taught them - and us is the importance of managing risk.

more...

[Catamount]

1. Excellent post and so true! K&R