Written by Walter Hecht   

What is an unnatural disaster? It is a natural disaster made much worse by the actions or lack thereof of conservatives in government.

Case in point, the fires near Sydney, Australia, in New South Wales state. It is spring Down Under during a prolonged drought and not yet the summer and fall high season for wildfires. The thinking person’s response would be to increase fire preparedness. Is that what the conservative government of NSW did? No, they cut the fire prevention budget for no good reason. The Great Recession in Australia is over, defeated several years ago by the traditional Keynesian remedy of adequate stimulus by the national government. Something that hasn’t happened here because the GOP are punishing us for electing Barack Obama in 2008 and re-electing him in 2012.

Another case in point, the destruction of New Orleans in 2005 by Katrina. We are now 8 years after that event and New Orleans still has not recovered. George W. Bush knew that the levees needed to be strengthened and he did nothing for 4.5 years, spending money on dredging a seldom used canal rather than budgeting for levee maintenance in New Orleans. Conservatives tend to be penny-wise and pound-foolish when it comes to government spending for the common good. Today, they decry the national debt when they should be stimulating the economy to increase economic activity and increase tax receipts. But that would redound to President Obama’s credit and they cannot abide that.