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Gov. Newsom’s Solution to the Los Angeles Wildfire Disaster? More Government

In the aftermath of last week’s devastating Southern California wildfires, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order that he says will allow victims of the fires to rebuild quickly with fewer bureaucratic hurdles.

Residents who lost their homes and property due to government mismanagement of water resources, forestry, firefighting equipment and personnel might be forgiven for wondering exactly how all that red tape got there in the first place.

Newsom also promised to enact price-fixing measures that he calls “key price gouging protections” that he claims will make rebuilding more affordable.


When price controls are enacted, the market becomes distorted and artificial shortages of labor and materials are created because fewer builders are willing to relocate to where they’re needed and supplies are quickly snapped up and become unavailable.

As one commentator on X explained:

[H]igh prices are the signal to add supply and bring prices down. it’s how you get builders to relocate from other places and people to enter the building trades. they are not going to do it for “mandated normal rates.”

That same commenter also pointed out that the reason so many people lost their insurance coverage prior to last week’s infernos was because the government artificially capped the  fire insurance rates, prompting insurers to cancel policies rather than face catastrophic losses.

When taxpayers are forced by the government to underwrite risky behavior, the risks increase.

When the market is allowed to accurately assess risks in setting prices, there’s a powerful incentive to find solutions instead.

Gov. Newsom’s proposal to fix the bureaucratic disaster he helped created with ever-increasing amounts of bureaucracy is strong evidence that he hasn’t learned from his mistakes.

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