Life's a Beach

Or rather, life's a beach house. A beach house on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. And then you get wiped out by a hurricane. USA Today files an excellent report from one such locale -- Alabama's Dauphin Island, which got hit hard by both Ivan and Katrina. Some 350 homes were destroyed by Katrina. Thanks to government insurance subsidies and taxpayer-funded infrastructure repairs, however, the beachfront is being developed once again, mostly with vacation homes for well-to-do beachcombers. Those will get wiped out too, of course. And folks will keep rebuilding as long as the government helps them pay for it.