Mitt Romney is now trying to walk away from his statement to John King that to add additional funds to FEMA was "immoral" because it increased the deficit.
1. Most states and local government CANNOT run a deficit - while they can sell bonds, the interest and repayment of those bonds have to be within in a balanced budget. And in many cases they most go to a referendum to have the authority to burden the government with the bond debt. That means they lack the resources to respond to emergencies.
2. While all governments COULD have emergency funds set aside for the inevitable crises, often it is simply not enough. Some catastrophes are simply too large -be they terrorist attacks like Sept. 11, 2001, hurricanes, earthquakes.
3. Many crises cross state boundaries - it is far better to have one point that can move immediately to coordinate, especially since many of the resources that need to be applied are federal.
4. To insist on cutting other government services to pay for emergencies is itself immoral. It would be the same as stopping all other government services to pay for the military response to Pearl Harbor in order not to run up the debt.
5. To place financial concerns over the immediate needs of people and communities is also immoral. It is one reason why some government services should NEVER be privatized. They should not be the subject of profit as the primary motivation, even as some of those who are hired to help provide those services will provide.
Just thoughts of an aging hippy.