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EDITORIAL: FREER ECONOMIES ENDURE QUAKES BETTER
The Associated Press.
Published: 03-10-2011
As we know in California, earthquakes can be the ultimate in
devastation. They're so terrifying because the very earth shakes
out from under you. So we sympathize with the victims of Japan's
8.9-magnitude earthquake March 11, which was followed by a tsunami.
Preliminary death tolls ran to more than 1,000.
But it could have been worse. Japan is one of the most developed
nations in the world, with an extensive capitalist economy. It's
not perfect. Some protectionism and high taxes of recent years have
retarded Japan's growth. And Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned of
a "Greece-like" debt crisis. Well, it's not quite that bad. Unlike
Greece, whose debt mostly is owned by foreign banks, Japan's government
debt mostly is owned by Japanese banks and persons, giving it more
flexibility.
It's this strong, developed economy that has prevented many more
casualties. "Nations that are richer and more plugged into the
global economy have proven more resilient in national disasters,"
Dan Griswold told us; he's director of the Center for Trade Policy
Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "Nothing will protect you
from an 8.9 earthquake. But a lot more people would be dead if Japan
were a poor and isolated country."
A good example was Haiti's earthquake last year. One of the poorest
nations in the world, its shoddy buildings crumbled under a 7.0
earthquake. It's still not known exactly how many died, but ABC News
reported in January that Haiti's "government has revised upward its
previous estimate of the death toll from 230,000 to 316,000, meaning
about 3 percent of Haiti's entire population perished."
On the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, Japan ranks
20th out of 179 countries, and Haiti 133rd. (The United States is
ninth.) Even before the earthquake, Heritage noted, Haiti's anti-market
problems included: "Protection of investors and property is severely
compromised by weak enforcement, a paucity of updated laws to handle
modern commercial practices, and a dysfunctional and resource-poor
legal system. ... Corruption is perceived as rampant."
A 6.9 earthquake in Armenia in 1988 killed about 25,000 people.
Armenia had been forced into the Soviet Union and its socialist
economic system in 1922, and so lived in penury. The earthquake
brought rare glimpses of truth from the controlled communist media of
the day. Komsomolskaya Pravda, a communist newspaper, asked, "Where
were the seismologists, the architects and the construction workers
that drafted and built the houses that fell apart like matchboxes?"
Shoddily constructed nine-story buildings became "common graves
for many."
Armenia's agony, showcasing the economic disaster of socialism, was
a catalyst for the end of the Soviet empire in 1991, the same year
Armenia became independent.
As with the Armenian and Haitian earthquakes, global foreign aid will
be flowing into Japan, especially from the United States. California
earthquake rescue experts are the best in the world and will be helping
out. The quick transportation of relief workers and supplies is another
benefit of the interlocking global economy that did not exist for such
major past quakes as those in San Francisco in 1906 or Tokyo in 1923.
Economically, Japan has been staggered. Honda, Toyota and other
stocks are down. Global oil prices dropped as a drop in Japanese
demand was anticipated. The prices of other commodities also may be
affected. Early reports were that five Japanese steel mills closed
to assess structural damage; according to Reuters, that may increase
prices due to shortages.
"The tremors from this will reverberate throughout the world economy
for months, if not years," Griswold observed. "It will have a huge
impact on commodities. We prosper together, and feel each other's
pain."
Social media also are playing a role. People around the world watched
reports in real-time on TV and Internet sites. At 4:36 am Friday, we
got a phone call from the Tsunami Hotline, part of AlertOC, warning
that "some areas could experience dangerous waves and tidal surges
along the beaches. Stay out of the water." This time it wasn't too
bad for us. Next time the warning might save hundreds of lives along
our coast.
In Japan, although the temblor disrupted some networks, people in
Japan and elsewhere immediately were tweeting away on Twitter and
posting on Facebook, including photos and YouTube videos. Reported
KVTB.com in Boise, Idaho, "Late Thursday night, Twitter lit up with
people wondering if their friend, Iko Vannoy, a former Boise State
student who is now working in Japan, was OK.
"Iko responded very quickly, letting her friends know she was safe,
but it was one of the scariest moments of her life. 'I thought I was
going to die! It was like watching a movie,' Iko said via Twitter."
What a relief to Iko's friends; and a comfort to Iko that her friends
cared so much.
As relief efforts proceed, it's worth emphasizing that free markets
and free trade were essential to lessening the damage done by the
earthquake and tsunami. Freedom just doesn't bring prosperity; it
saves lives.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php
FOLLOW US @OCRegLetters
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor: E-mail to
[email protected]. Please provide your name, city and telephone
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200 words or videos of 30-seconds each will be given preference.
Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity.
From: A. Papazian
The Associated Press.
Published: 03-10-2011
As we know in California, earthquakes can be the ultimate in
devastation. They're so terrifying because the very earth shakes
out from under you. So we sympathize with the victims of Japan's
8.9-magnitude earthquake March 11, which was followed by a tsunami.
Preliminary death tolls ran to more than 1,000.
But it could have been worse. Japan is one of the most developed
nations in the world, with an extensive capitalist economy. It's
not perfect. Some protectionism and high taxes of recent years have
retarded Japan's growth. And Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned of
a "Greece-like" debt crisis. Well, it's not quite that bad. Unlike
Greece, whose debt mostly is owned by foreign banks, Japan's government
debt mostly is owned by Japanese banks and persons, giving it more
flexibility.
It's this strong, developed economy that has prevented many more
casualties. "Nations that are richer and more plugged into the
global economy have proven more resilient in national disasters,"
Dan Griswold told us; he's director of the Center for Trade Policy
Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "Nothing will protect you
from an 8.9 earthquake. But a lot more people would be dead if Japan
were a poor and isolated country."
A good example was Haiti's earthquake last year. One of the poorest
nations in the world, its shoddy buildings crumbled under a 7.0
earthquake. It's still not known exactly how many died, but ABC News
reported in January that Haiti's "government has revised upward its
previous estimate of the death toll from 230,000 to 316,000, meaning
about 3 percent of Haiti's entire population perished."
On the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, Japan ranks
20th out of 179 countries, and Haiti 133rd. (The United States is
ninth.) Even before the earthquake, Heritage noted, Haiti's anti-market
problems included: "Protection of investors and property is severely
compromised by weak enforcement, a paucity of updated laws to handle
modern commercial practices, and a dysfunctional and resource-poor
legal system. ... Corruption is perceived as rampant."
A 6.9 earthquake in Armenia in 1988 killed about 25,000 people.
Armenia had been forced into the Soviet Union and its socialist
economic system in 1922, and so lived in penury. The earthquake
brought rare glimpses of truth from the controlled communist media of
the day. Komsomolskaya Pravda, a communist newspaper, asked, "Where
were the seismologists, the architects and the construction workers
that drafted and built the houses that fell apart like matchboxes?"
Shoddily constructed nine-story buildings became "common graves
for many."
Armenia's agony, showcasing the economic disaster of socialism, was
a catalyst for the end of the Soviet empire in 1991, the same year
Armenia became independent.
As with the Armenian and Haitian earthquakes, global foreign aid will
be flowing into Japan, especially from the United States. California
earthquake rescue experts are the best in the world and will be helping
out. The quick transportation of relief workers and supplies is another
benefit of the interlocking global economy that did not exist for such
major past quakes as those in San Francisco in 1906 or Tokyo in 1923.
Economically, Japan has been staggered. Honda, Toyota and other
stocks are down. Global oil prices dropped as a drop in Japanese
demand was anticipated. The prices of other commodities also may be
affected. Early reports were that five Japanese steel mills closed
to assess structural damage; according to Reuters, that may increase
prices due to shortages.
"The tremors from this will reverberate throughout the world economy
for months, if not years," Griswold observed. "It will have a huge
impact on commodities. We prosper together, and feel each other's
pain."
Social media also are playing a role. People around the world watched
reports in real-time on TV and Internet sites. At 4:36 am Friday, we
got a phone call from the Tsunami Hotline, part of AlertOC, warning
that "some areas could experience dangerous waves and tidal surges
along the beaches. Stay out of the water." This time it wasn't too
bad for us. Next time the warning might save hundreds of lives along
our coast.
In Japan, although the temblor disrupted some networks, people in
Japan and elsewhere immediately were tweeting away on Twitter and
posting on Facebook, including photos and YouTube videos. Reported
KVTB.com in Boise, Idaho, "Late Thursday night, Twitter lit up with
people wondering if their friend, Iko Vannoy, a former Boise State
student who is now working in Japan, was OK.
"Iko responded very quickly, letting her friends know she was safe,
but it was one of the scariest moments of her life. 'I thought I was
going to die! It was like watching a movie,' Iko said via Twitter."
What a relief to Iko's friends; and a comfort to Iko that her friends
cared so much.
As relief efforts proceed, it's worth emphasizing that free markets
and free trade were essential to lessening the damage done by the
earthquake and tsunami. Freedom just doesn't bring prosperity; it
saves lives.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php
FOLLOW US @OCRegLetters
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor: E-mail to
[email protected]. Please provide your name, city and telephone
number (telephone numbers will not be published). Letters of about
200 words or videos of 30-seconds each will be given preference.
Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity.
From: A. Papazian