Randolph Bourne once famously said: "War is the health of the state." It turns out Bourne was only aware of the half of it: Actually, emergency is the health of the state, if the state is made of people who are racketeers. For nothing creates more problems to solve than emergencies, of which war is one example. More accurately for here and now, emergency is the health of the state contractors, and their supporting pyramids of business, for at least three nation-states, with no end in sight, thanks to acts of God perhaps, or else thanks to policy, if they are not picky.
Some offensive new information was recently reported in November 2007 concerning the cleanup work for the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
"$229,000 FEMA trailers. Agency spent more on trailers than it would have cost to buy new houses".
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Every problem is an opportunity for a solution, and a business.
Emergencies bring the most problems of all.
Not everybody can profit from problems. It's a problem for somebody after all.
Business is not necessarily a bad thing of course. Businesses which make solutions, only, are basically a good thing for all people, as long as people are free to choose the solutions that work for them. "Them" is important to identify correctly. Who are "they"? Solutions for whom?
Most people would prefer not to create problems for other people. Most people create solutions. However, others are not so picky. These people create rackets.
Rackets are when people create problems, and their solutions. Rackets are also when people create policies that create problems, and their solutions.
"War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings."
-- Ludwig von Mises, written just after World War One.
"War is a racket."
-- General Smedley Butler, Retired, US Marine Corps, 1935.
I invite you to look at General Butler's book on racket for yourself, first-hand. It's a very short book, and it is public domain, meaning free. Butler was an insider to wars around the turn of the previous century, being a general officer, and Butler was undoubtedly knew what he was talking about, but his perspective was too narrow. Racket is even more prevalent than Butler perceived.
War is not the only racket, although it's a big one for sure, maybe even the biggest racket of all. However, profits are optimized by leaving no stone unturned. Other types of emergencies are also "opportunities."
Today there are new reports of still more contracting "opportunities" in New Orleans even two years after the Hurricane Katrina. Take a look at the fresh news article:
"$229,000 FEMA trailers. Agency spent more on trailers than it would have cost to buy new houses".
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Excerpt from the article:
The contractor told government investigators that it informed FEMA about the big profit, and that FEMA said it didn't care.
David Stewart, a debris cleanup worker who has been living at that site, says now he understands why workers cleaned out the tanks so often.
"Half the time, they didn't even need cleaning out," Stewart says. The company was paid for each visit.
Notice the distinction Stewart made, as to why they are doing the work in the first place. Emergencies are opportunities for solutions and help at best, but the opportunity for business during emergencies so often does not stop at just providing solutions. This is a fully predictable outcome in virtually all emergencies.
Emergency is a racket, if you let it or if you want it. All emergencies have this potential. The bigger the emergency the bigger the racket, if you want it.
Sometimes emergency is a racket, but not always. How do you know when it's less like a solution? How do you know when it's more like a racket?
Racket is a matter of degree. Rarely is the line simple black and white, all or nothing. The line where solution ends and racket begins is an ethical line, and like any ethical line is therefore subjective according to a person's preference, and vested interest. Creating storms is not subject to vested interest (at least according to logical people). However, potential is there and it depends on those in charge to convert an emergency into a racket, and it depends on those in charge to increase the probability of emergency situtation in the first place via policies.
Reducing the prior maintenance of safety features like levies is one example that occurred before there was any fateful Act of God. Reducing the pool of emergency workers living in the area by sending most of the National Guards away to work in foreign countries like Iraq for extended periods is another example that occurred before the fateful event. Appointing unqualified horse lawyers like Mr. Brown into top offices of critical public agencies like FEMA, is yet another policy choice that upped the probability of disastrous results. Showing up days late on the scene of a massive emergency was an after the fact policy choice. Lack of oversight of contracting business in New Orleans is another bad policy choice, still ongoing for two years after the storm.
The more that "emergency" and "contracting" become synonymous, then the more likely it is that you are looking at a racket. The more that policies foster emergencies, then the more likely it is that you are looking at a racket.
If Federal Emergency Management Agency behaves more like a Federal Contractor Management Agency, then you might have a racket. If the Department of Homeland Security behaves more like a Department of Homeland Contracts, then you might have a racket. If a Global War on Terror and Department of Defense behave more like Department of Overseas No-Bid Perpetual Contracts for general contractors like Blackwater and Halliburton and Lockheed, and for all their subcontractors and sub-subcontractors, and for their financiers, and likewise for the pyramids of contractors to the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, then you might have a racket.
Randolph Bourne once famously said: "War is the health of the state."
It turns out Bourne was only aware of the half of it: Actually, emergency is the health of the state, if the state is made of people who are racketeers. For nothing creates more problems to solve than emergencies.
More accurately for here and now, emergency is the health of the state contractors, and their supporting pyramids of business, for at least three nation-states, with no end in sight, thanks to acts of God perhaps, or else thanks to policy, if they are not picky.
Further information:
1.War is a Racket, author Gen. Smedley Butler, public domain, http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/...
2.Resurgence of the Warfare State, author Robert Higgs, publisher Independent Institute, www.independent.org
3.Randi Rhodes Show, broadcaster Air America Radio, www.airamerica.com