January 04, 2005

Libertarian Commentary on The News
By Nathan A. Barton © 2004

Welcome to 2005 again, and to the first week of this new year. Not much new, sadly: just the same old world. But with snow falling (moisture!!!!), I can be cheerful, and say that things are looking up! At least that is my opinion, not necessary that of anyone else, including FND, RRND, or TPoL!

Civilians fill aid void while government falters
San Francisco Chronicle
"They come in all shapes and sizes -- red fire trucks, pickup trucks, four-wheel drives and large buses -- all loaded with instant noodles, sugar, rice and coffee. Sporting a banner reading 'Aid for the Natural Disaster Victims,' the convoys race up and down the road between Medan, in Sumatra's north, and Lhokseumawe, on Aceh's devastated northeast coast. There is little central organization to this aid effort, and even less government involvement. It is the work of community groups, mosques, government employees and students whose efforts sprang up spontaneously in the wake of the Indonesian island of Sumatra's shocking, and rising, death toll from Sunday's tsunami. Harun Usman, one of 4,000 refugees camped on the grounds of the Cut Nyak Dhien Hospital in Lhokseumawe, says it is this local effort, not government or international assistance, that is keeping him alive." (01/01/05)

As the newspapers filled with stories of bureaucratic bungling and the failure of the various governments in the saturated zone to respond and provide the services that they claimed only governments could provide, more and more western and local agencies have been trying to fill the gap. The local efforts described in this article are being matched by hundreds of spontaneous efforts started in the US and elsewhere, already shipping goods stockpiled just for emergencies in places not so badly hit, including christian communities in Africa and other parts of Asia Although the news media will (of course) continue to cover the “official” efforts more, this seems to be working better: for one thing, these folks are not letting bureaucratic rules and habits control them, and are willing to risk their lives and properties to get through with the needed help. (Read the rest of the Commentary here)

Mortgaging the Future of Our Armed Forces
By Ivan Eland

When private companies cook the books, the perpetrators are indicted for fraud and thrown in jail. When politicians in Washington falsify accounts, it's not fraud, just good clean fun on the banks of the Potomac. The Bush administration is claiming cuts in defense spending in an attempt to pretend to reduce the yawning budget deficit while pouring ever more funds into the Pentagon. Yet despite the bucket loads of added cash, the administration is mortgaging the future of the U.S. armed forces.

During his reelection campaign, President Bush pledged to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009. The president has decided to measure his progress using an initial deficit figure of $521 billion, thus making his eventual goal a reduction to a $261 billion deficit. The problem is that the budget deficit was never $521 billion. This number was only an outdated Bush administration guess about what the deficit would be. The real initial shortfall is $413 billion, thus necessitating greater budget cuts down to the ultimate goal of a $207 billion deficit. (Read the rest here)

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