My Non-Bleeding Heart Libertarian market niche is being eroded by Jeff Miron’s new blog. Here’s what he has to say about New Orleans:

The Katrina disaster occurred mainly because government spent billions constructing these levees in the first place; without this intervention, people would not have been living in areas well-below sea level. Repeating the initial mistake is an incredible waste of resources. More generally, government-subsidized flood insurance, and attempts by the Corps to promote human activity in areas where Mother Nature never intended, make no economic sense.

This gives me the feeling that Miron is going to spend a lot of time channeling Herbert Spencer: “The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.” Sweet!