Anniston Star: Beach-dwellers must assume more of the risks

The Star gets it right, acknowledging the role of the free market in coastal redevelopment efforts.

Coastal development and tourism is a cash cow for Florida and an important contributor to the budgets of Alabama and other states along the Gulf. The same can be said for the Atlantic seaboard. Yet at the same time, if the storms continue, the drain that evacuation, rescue and rebuilding will put on the national economy will only become greater.

For much of the 20th century, the coast was the last frontier, the haven for expatriates from the rat race, “raffish, sunburnt, hard of hand and piratical of glance,” and the entrepreneurs, “upper crust matronly, Rotarian, with cash register eyeballs.”

Today, both have been largely replaced with second home owning, condo investing, real estate speculating folks who are into recreational shopping, recreational eating and golf. But either way, folks who settled the coast knew there was a risk. That risk is greater now. And the settlers must assume a greater part of it.

Unfortunately, this thoughtful editorial comes on the heels of two others in the past week calling for big federal tax increases (see here and here).

When it comes to economics, the Star's editors are like those travelers who venture south of the border and ignore the all too familiar warning of "don't drink the water." They have a major problem with consistency.