Dear Wash. Post: Haitian Tragedy Magnified by Lack of Economic Freedom
Editor,
Dear Editor:
Regarding "Tens of thousands feared dead" (Jan. 14): The ultimate tragedy in
Registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, the Haitian earthquake killed tens of thousands of people. But the quake that hit
This difference is due chiefly to Americans' greater wealth. With one of the freest economies in the world, Americans build stronger homes and buildings, and have better health-care and better search and rescue equipment. In contrast, burdened by one of the world's least-free economies, Haitians cannot afford to build sturdy structures. Nor can they afford the health-care and emergency equipment that we take for granted here in the
These stark facts should be a lesson for those who insist that human habitats are made more dangerous, and human lives put in greater peril, by freedom of commerce and industry.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Don Boudreaux is the Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a Business & Media Institute adviser.<?xml:namespace prefix = u1 />
