“Brooks’ comparison is not entirely fair, because the Bay Area is built on a fault line and quakes hit very frequently; they are expected, so houses are constructed to survive them. Haiti, in contrast, is said to have seen no major tremor for two centuries and so it was not unreasonable for people to build to somewhat lower standards. Even so, the appearance of the rubble suggests that constructors there may have used what my grandfather (a reputable builder) would have called ‘two of sand and one of water’ — a reference to how his rivals saved costs when mixing concrete. However, Brooks was quite right to point out that lack of money was the prime reason over two thousand died in Haiti for every one in San Francisco. So we need to know: In this era of plenty, why is that country so dirt poor?” (03/15/10)