Fire and Ice

This is a story of fire and ice. Well, not exactly ice but a close cousin — snow. I was hoping that we’d get a huge big snow storm in Chicago, IL but all we got yesterday, Friday, was a minor snow fall of a few inches only.

Nothing to write home about, really. I did a bit of snow clearing to keep the sidewalks around the front yard clean. Fortunately I did not have to shovel the snow; that can be hard work. I used one of those lawn mower-sized gizmos to help with the job.

Now about those fires in Southern California. A bunch of wild fires are devastating the LA area. In the Pacific Palisades, thousands of homes have been destroyed in an area over 20,000 acres. Fires are barely contained and have over the last few days to the surrounding areas like Santa Monica and West Hollywood. The area around PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), one of my favorite roads, is burning around LA.

The aerial pictures look like those cities have been carpet bombed. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. Fortunately, death tolls are still quite negligible — in the low two-digits. The total damage will end up being in the tens of billions of dollars but the US is rich, and California is incredibly rich. It may take a few years but it’ll be back to normal soon enough.

However, the normal may shift a lot. California is a “blue” state. Meaning it is controlled by the Democrats. In all likelihood, it will finally revert to being “red” — Republican. I certainly would be glad if it did so since I’m a Republican.

When the smoke finally clears, it will become clear that the blame lies in Democrat government policies. The LA Fire Department (LAFD) is hugely responsible for this disaster. They are led by the supremely woke drunk on DEI. On top of that, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, is an idiot.

Certainly natural causes had a role to play in the Southern CA fires but not decisively so. Poor policy decisions such as wrong forest management were critical, among insane bureaucratic regulations, and restrictions on insurance companies that wanted to raise premiums commensurate with risk but were forced not to.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. FAFO.

I’ve seen natural disasters in Northern California. First there was the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. I lived though that. Truth be told, I am glad that I experienced that.

And then there was the fire in Oakland Hills in 1991. I was there, a witness.

It was amazing to see how powerless humans are when confronting massive fires. Even the richest state in the world does not have the capacity to overcome a fire of that magnitude.

Both were defining events which gave me an appreciation of how powerless humans were in the face of forces that are impossibly hard to control. They teach humility. A proper study of economics reinforces that lesson.

That’s the weather report.

Now for a song. A long time favorite.