California's Wildfires Are Exposing the Rotten Core of Capitalism

[packman]

Natural disasters typically have the most devastating effects on those with the fewest resources. A 2016 UN report on the nexus of wealth inequality and climate change found that the two were locked in a vicious and increasingly terrifying cycle: "...the disadvantaged groups suffer disproportionate loss of income and assets (physical, financial, human and social) when these hazards actually hit them. Consequently, inequality worsens, and the cycle perpetuates with greater force."

“No matter what the kind of natural disaster, whether it’s flooding or wind damage or fire, the biggest burden of the longest duration falls on the already-poor,” David Lodge, director of Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, told me.

In addition to the immediate threats to life and limb that come with any severe natural disaster, there may be a temporary period of homelessness or unemployment that can send someone on the brink of poverty over the edge. Without adequate insurance, savings to rebuild, or a reliable social safety net in place, what Lodge has called “the human face of policy-induced suffering” is revealed.


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xpgz4/californias-wildfires-are-exposing-the-rotten-core-of-capitalism

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. The wildfires are also exposing

how foolish and dangerous it can be to build in places that are going to burn at some point. Yes, the recent drought has made things worse, but people are still building in places they shouldn't be.

[Nitram]

2. Exactly. California is a very dry place that has been stealing water from other states to survive

for many decades. They cut down orchards and built subdivisions. Very much like people who built houses in the 100-year floodplain or right on the beach. Capitalism does play an important role, though, because developers persuade the legislature to block legislation limiting development in areas prone too flooding, landslides, and wildfires.