A very nice piece about Bastiat's Broken Window Fable:
"...Why are Florida's hurricanes a "plus"? It's simple. According to St. Petersburg Times reporter Joni James, "Construction creates thousands of jobs, insurance provides for billions in consumer purchases, and new facilities built to higher standards might help offset future storm-related losses."
This kind of reasoning, often put forth by poorly trained economists, doesn't even pass a simple smell test."