FEMA isn't up to the task of Katrina

Gary North has written one of the best pieces on the Katrina disaster yet:

Unless someone is willing to risk a loss by breaking the rules, no system functions well in an emergency. FEMA is like any other government bureaucracy: no one is willing to take a risk. No one is able to respond fast to new circumstances. The bureaucratization of emergency response is a contradiction in terms.

Wal-Mart could respond rapidly because (1) it runs a profit and can pay for a small loss (a truck load of water); (2) Wal-Mart is flexible because it is so profitable; (3) someone in charge at Wal-Mart can say "do this," and the chain of command responds. None of this is true at FEMA.

The very nature of government itself makes handling an emergency a failure.What other institution grows larger after a failure?