The government, famed for building bridges to nowhere, can’t replace a bridge blown down by Hurricane Katrina in four times the time required for a private company to replace its bridge just downriver from it, blown down at the same time. And the private company is a railroad, no less!
The front page of Saturday’s Wall Street Journal is graced with this article describing the reconstruction of a railroad bridge in Pass Christian, Miss. by its owner and a vehicle bridge very close by, by government. I won’t trouble to describe the comparison, both because those with subscriptions can read all about it here, and because we all know how it turns out.
Suffice it to say, the railroad bridge has been operating for almost a year at this point, and the vehicle bridge looks to be at least a year away from completion. Never mind the cost comparisons.
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Unfortunately these episodes will be used as evidence that the government should be given more power and money to combat natural disasters in the future, instead of actually learning something about how to get things done in free, capitalist society.
I have seen any number of articles since Katrina about how the private sector and evil corporations whose only motive is to make fists full of money by exploiting the poor have managed to be the saviors of the people in need, while the benevolent governments that are supposed to provide everything from cradle to grave have failed miserably and repeatedly. The rampant corruption and the government regulations that were needed to contain it are treated as aberations, things that make this situation unusual, when it is not at all unusual, but the norm.
These articles invariably approach this subject from a “man bites dog” standpoint as if this is somehow incredible and unusual. It just goes to show how warped most people’s perceptions are.
Walter block has written several papers on private vs public roads. If we only woulda.
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