Wal-Mart & Katrina

Colby Cosh writes an interesting piece in Canada’s National Post favorably contrasting Wal-Mart’s Katrina disaster relief efforts with those of the federal government. Lesson: Big government isn’t always good, and big business isn’t always bad. Market forces can benefit the public good, because without the public, there is no market for business to sell its wares.

Money quote from the article: As the president of the brutalized Jefferson Parish put it in a Sept. 4 Meet the Press interview, speaking at the height of nationwide despair over FEMA's confused response: "If [the U.S.] government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis."

Maybe we should close down FEMA and outsource it all to Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Home Depot.