The left says the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort shows the need for big government. But one can just as easily make the case that it shows the need for private enterprise. The Wall Street Journal has a news article about some of the companies that make or supply the pumps being used to remove water from New York City basements and tunnels. Sure enough, the pumps are privately made:
People tend to overlook the importance of pumps, except "when they're in trouble," says Jim Gorman, the 88-year-old chairman of Gorman-Rupp, which is based in Mansfield, Ohio....Mr. Gorman, the chairman of Gorman-Rupp, has been in the business since the late 1930s. His father, J.C. Gorman, and a partner, H.E. Rupp, started the company in 1933 in a barn on the outskirts of Mansfield, in north-central Ohio, with capital of $1,500.