FEMA

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Bill Clinton, Pork Barrel, Free Rider http://www.cato.org/dailys/2-19-97.html

Stephen Bainbridge suggests OutSourcing with CostPlus contracts. I think that could work if there were essentially different contracts for steady/maintenance/prevention activities vs per-disaster projects...

2005: The Economist notes although federal flood insurance was both subsidised and supposedly obligatory for most mortgage holders, remarkably few people on the Gulf had federal cover (for Hurricane Katrina): less than a fifth along Mississippi's coast and only 40% in New Orleans. People bet that if a Hurricane struck, the government would bail them out. In California, for the same reason, only one in five homes is insured against Earth Quakes.

2017: The Boomtown That Shouldn’t Exist: Cape Coral, Florida, was built on total lies. One big storm could wipe it off the map. Oh, and it’s also the fastest-growing city in the United States.

• 2022 (Hurricane Ian): thread of more-recent articles about flood insurance)