So-called economist Paul Krugman over at the New York Times is angry that no massive bureaucracy has been assembled to centrally plan the reconstruction of New Orleans:

Nobody thinks that reconstruction should already be under way. But what's striking to me is that there are no visible signs that the administration has even begun developing a plan. No reconstruction czar has been appointed; no commission has been named. There have been no public hearings. And as far as we can tell, nobody is in charge.

I think Mr. Krugman needs to let go of his outdated liberal conceptions of the state as omnipotent purveyor of good. 'Reconstruction czars' don't get anything done. Commissions and public hearings obstruct progress. 'Somebody being in charge' is the last thing we need if we want to see New Orleans re-established as a thriving city. The state didn't build it the first time around (except for the levees that failed), and if Washington bureaucrats turn this into their pet project of city-building, we can probably expect it to go as well as their efforts at nation-building, that is to say it will be a wasteful, chaotic mix of cronyism, profiteering, incompetence, and failure. The only cities the government has ever built were slums, and that's what New Orleans will be.

Would you ask thieves to build your house?

(Hat tip to Cafe Hayek for the links.)