Just how far?

Obama requests $60 billion for Sandy relief
The president has asked Congress to approve a special appropriation of $60 billion-plus to help the states hammered by Hurricane Sandy … and the governors are complaining it isn’t enough.
I am sorry (and I really am for those people impacted by the storm), but I am not sure why the federal government needs to go another $60 billion in the hole here. Yes, it would be nice, if the federal government had the money just laying around somewhere like so much pocket change, but it doesn’t.
The saddest thing to me is that the request and the complaints illustrate rather well how we have come to view the federal government as the source for all bailouts. It shouldn’t be. It wasn’t intended that it be. However, that is how the current crop of Americans views it.
It really is sad. I know that thousands upon thousands of people are affected by the devastation wrought by the hurricane. Just like what happened in Mississippi and Louisiana during Katrina. Guess what? Things like hurricanes happen when you live on the coastal regions of the eastern half of the United States. Yup, almost as regular as clockwork, one or more hurricanes is likely to hit somewhere along the coast every year.
It is not the result of climate change or global warming. It has been happening for millions, if not billions, of years. You really have to be a dope not to realize that sooner or later, no matter where you live along the coast, that sooner or later one of these bad storms is going to come along and do bad things. Granted, they do very bad things, but that is the thing about Mother Nature: She is stronger than anything man can build and we have to realize that.
Now, fortunately for human life, Americans have a pretty good warning system that pretty much helps them get out of the way of such storms, but the things that don’t move … well, they are going to take a major hit.
Of course, if you are smarter than the average cookie, and you have a place by the sea, then you have made preparations for the inevitable … but then again, maybe you haven’t.
In that case, I supposed that you always can call on the federal government with its bottomless pockets (remember, it prints the money) and it can come restore everything to status quo ante and even better (if you play your cards right). It really doesn’t matter anymore that the federal government basically is broke and living on its credit cards. That never hurt anybody.
But then again, maybe we haven’t learned anything from the near economic collapse four years ago.
I know I sound cruel and heartless, but I am not. I am only questioning why it is that Americans now always look to Washington to solve their problems. It didn’t used to be that way, but then communities were much stronger back then and you really knew your neighbors and families were closer. Future Shock’s nuclear family (or at least a shadow of it) now is the norm and with the telecommunications revolution making even international crises seem like local ones, it is a small wonder that even self-sufficient Americans turn to one source for all solutions.
It is not a good thing, in my humble estimation, but it is the way things are. Sad, because I fear there will be a really steep price that will have to be paid eventually. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I doubt very much (as old as I am) that I will be here when the piper comes demanding to be paid his due.