Sorry for a slow posting week. I’m still settling back in from the long weekend and wading though the volume and emotional weight of all the media coverage and blogging on the hurricane aftermath. I don’t have anything new to add, so here are a few good pieces, in case you missed them:
Matt Yglesias on the blame game and playing politics: "But on some level, of course, the critiques are about politics, and rightly so. Democracy is a bit of a crude instrument. Public officials have strong incentives to direct funds away from dull-but-worthy endeavors and toward well-financed interest groups. Likewise, they have strong incentives to staff agencies with cronies rather than competent professionals. Insofar as they act otherwise they do so for one reason — fear. Fear that the political consequences of exposure of wrongdoing and mismanagement will be swift and severe."
Tyler Cowen on systematic reasons for institutional failure, including "5. A crisis is, by definition, large. This puts federalism, whatever its other merits, at a disadvantage. No one is sure who is responsible for what, or how a chain of command should operate."
Noam Schreiber on conservative and liberal governing philosophies: "The point, in somewhat less broad (narrower?) brushstrokes, is that the conservative worldview places an emphasis on self-sufficiency and devalues the ability of government to mitigate the pain and hardship the world imposes on people, at least relative to the liberal worldview. At the margins, this leads conservatives to place a lower priority on things like disaster relief. But it turns out that, in a crisis, marginal differences can have important consequences. "
Slate’s Austan Goolsbee on price gouging: "[R]ising prices don’t equal price gouging. Any reasonable definition of gouging must distinguish it from price increases that would exist in a competitive market….Gas prices aren’t rising in Los Angeles or New York because drivers are desperate to get somewhere with potable water. They are rising because supply has become extraordinarily tight and people want to keep driving as much as they were before."
Or, if you need some diversion from it all - and aren’t getting wrapped up in recent gay marriage news - Oliver Kamm is hosting his first (annual?) gay blogger beauty contest. The choices veer toward the Chelsea/muscle look, but within that there’s some variety. You indie kids out there can even cast a vote for a buffed-up Bob Mould.
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