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Comment by angersock | Hacker News Reader

What I believe is that my city came together in a time of great stress and has been prevailing.

What I believe is that my city's people decided that it was more important to have growth and to bounce back than to limit itself in the face of known weather.

What I believe is that we are richer and more diverse because of the lack of zoning and because of aggressive (if irresponsible) development, and that more people had better lives than would have if we'd said "oh well i guess we should give up".

What I believe is that none of the people who haven't lived here for years have much useful to say that isn't just virtue signalling and apocalyptic rubbernecking.

And lastly, calling our people irrational while you enjoy the fruit of our labors in the form of cheap gasoline, cheap imports, and good cancer care I believe is extremely tacky.

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Would you please not post rants like this to HN, regardless of how tacky other people are?

Again, no need to be rude in getting your point across.

I grew up in Houston, all my family is there still, and I agree with this article as well as the OP. Argue the man on his points, not your feelings.

All of your beliefs are fine, but your city still drowned, and will again with increasing frequency. As a species, we need to learn to start discussing these issues instead of always reacting to them after the fact. The pepole who are going to suffer most are the ones who do what you do, and believe uber alles, because while it's your human right, nature just doesn't care at all.

We'll be fine in six months, and humming along in another six.

You might be, many others will remain devastated.

At how much cost in emergency aid from elsewhere?

After coastal Texas gets $120+ billion courtesy of the Federal government.

If this was a free market state's rights kinda program, Texas should raise the cost of it's exports and fund this rebuild entirely on its own.

After every household in America ponies up $1000 to rebuild your infinite spreading plane of HEB parking lots. You're welcome in advance, mr. bootstraps.

HEB is awesome though. And so is Bucy's. Thanks in advance.

OK now how much of my money would you like me to pay to you to make sure that you are fine?

As a resident of New Orleans, I'd like to know your ideas about how to deal with subsidence?

85% of Harris county residents do not have flood insurance. Mortgage companies colluded with homeowners, land lords, and politicians to complain about big government regulations making people's homes too expensive by requiring it.

And now here are those mortgage companies and homeowners and landlords asking to be bailed out, to rebuild, to change no behavior.

This is worse than just paying people to sit on the sofa. That's cheap compared to this. At least they spend that money and it involves no asset destruction. Houston is basically asking the country to refund bad choices, transfer wealth back into physical assets located in coastal Texas, which will inevitably be destroyed again at some point in the future.

shrug

Fine. But I think flood insurance should be mandatory. And it should be at cost (no profit). But it should not be subsidized. And I think that's the same for any coastal area. And for people who live in fire prone forest areas.

But I will bet money that Ted Cruz and Texas politicians will be begging for more money than Katrina. And the next time there's a hurricane not in Texas they'll all bitch and moan about how most of that money is pork, and then vote against it just like they did with hurricane Sandy.

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