Imagine that you bought a new computer for $800, and that the computer then exploded, seriously injuring you or a member of your family. Imagine that when you went to the store to lodge a complaint, the computer company told you that you had to give them $200, and that then the next computer you bought would not blow up. I imagine you would tell them to take a hike, only using a number of four-letter words other than "hike."

So why is it that when the government, who we pay to protect us (whether we like it or not), completely fails to do so, we accept it when they say that all they need is more money? Why is it that, after Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and government failures made the situation worse, people are now calling for more funding for FEMA, for more government programs to protect people in the future? How much do we honestly think it could cost to evacuate a couple hundred thousand people from New Orleans in a timely manner? More than the $10.7 billion in pork (a euphemism for what should be criminally corrupt government spending) that was recently passed as part of the latest highway bill? Why do we think more money is what is needed? Of course the government loves it when people respond in this manner, since throwing money at a problem is the easiest thing to do, and since government officials pocket a large portion of whatever money is thrown at them.

We should not be surprised at this response, since government has been dealing with problems this way for as long as it has been around. When welfare failed to substantially improve the lot of poor people in our country, we responded by throwing more money into the bureaucratic black hole, and of course nothing got any better. As public schools have gotten worse and worse with time, we have thrown more and more money at them, and they have only gotten worse. You would think by now people would realize that maybe the problem isn't the amount of funding, but the institution we are funding. The government doesn't really do anything well. Government is wasteful, corrupt, and ineffective -- it always has been and always will be.

Going back to the costs of protecting people from hurricane Katrina, if the $10.7 billion in wasteful pork from the last highway bill had been used to get people out of New Orleans, the government could moved the entire metropolitan area of New Orleans, that's over 1.3 million people, and spent over $8000 on each person. Money isn't the problem. The problem is government. The problem is that those in government have no natural incentive to do any more than what is necessary to stay in office -- and politicians need not do much at all to stay in office. It is always easier for politicians to do a bad job and point fingers later, since the politician has no vested interest in the lives or property or well-being of anyone but themself, so long as he or she can deny responsibility for their failure. As every child knows, it is easier to lie and make excuses than do the right thing.

If something needs to be done, and that something doesn't involve killing, stealing or jailing people, it's better not to ask the government to do it.