Year 2, Month 2, Day 14: Personally, I Don’t Trust Market Forces To Do *Anything* Right

The San Francisco Chronicle discusses the role of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in helping various regions of the country prepare for the impact of climate change. Yeah, yeah, I know. SOSHALIZM!

The Natural Resources Conservation Service is an excellent demonstration of what good government should be about. Our economy and infrastructure depend on the long-term health of our environment. Note the word “long-term.” Market forces are by their nature unable to operate successfully outside the short-term universe of immediate profit or loss, which means that they cannot be trusted to oversee systems or processes that move significantly more slowly than the next business quarter or financial year. FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps planted millions of trees to help prevent another dust bowl; can you imagine a multinational corporation recognizing their value as anything except a source of lumber? As the effects of climate change are felt throughout the country and the world, it is obvious that our business sector is ill-prepared to undertake stewardship of the natural systems upon which our entire economy depends — which is why we need the NRCS.

Warren Senders