Culture wars over whether we face climate change or God's plan do not relieve us Floridians, jointly and severally, from being ready for the coming hurricane season. That takes more than posting a list of emergency supplies and such on the fridge. We should, for example, make sure we have gas for the generator in the garage but also that it works to specs. And all in the household can use it properly. In modern business terms, that means recognizing and costing impairment risks and related recovery plans for complex asset groups. (See, for example, pwc guidance here.)
Florida posts its list, a Comprehensive Emergency Plan (CEMP), online. If it ran like a business, the State would treat CEMP as a complex asset group. Instead, it expects subordinates to test segments and trusts that all can and will work to specs. Either Tallahassee should stop aspiring to act more like a for-profit business, or it should adopt modern business practices. I propose a private-public-partnership, say a Florida Disaster Governance Observatory (FDGO), play that role. For more on that, click here.
Neoconservatives like to claim Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations proves the "invisible hand" of markets works, if government gets out of its way. In fact he only uses that term once in 600 pages. Even the Adam Smith Institute's abridged and editorializes version of the book admits (page 49) the reference is "rather elliptical". Smith actually focuses...
My blogs will focus on what I called Social Infrastructure (SI) in my pioneering work on wealth metrics at the World Bank (see Washington Post article from 1995, here). SI is what we invest in how people collaborate as well as compete. The World Bank routinely updates and modifies wealth metrics; most recently here.
Dysfunctional government is due to Democratic Party neglect of local politics. The Republican Party uses local politics as farm teams, finding talent to make its way to State and then Federal office. Democrats treat local elections like pick-up games; turning State and Federal politics into spectator sports where one celebrates wins or bemoans...