Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christie at Disney World

I wonder how many regular state workers (you know, the ones New Jersey Governor Chris Christie bashes) put off trips and activities they were planning to do with their children to help clear the streets and highways of New Jersey.

One thing this points up is why the government isn't a business. Governments have to plan for events that one would hope only occur once a century--flood, earthquake, massive snowstorm--but they have to be able to respond to such events. And they can't depend on volunteers to do the work. After the Loma Prieta earthquake, it was suggested that those who wanted to help could do one thing--stay home, keep off the roads, let the people who knew what they were doing do their jobs. (Amazingly, some employers docked the pay of workers who did just that. I always thought that we should have legislation that not only required employers who did stuff like that to pay their workers, but to pay a stiff fine to the state for having been so un-civic-minded.)

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