[OT] All home owners to pay for disasters in future fund.

I just about had a stroke that ended my thanksgiving weekend.

On the 6pm news, was a report on how insurance companies no longer are going to underwrite high risk homes.

So, a team of people who really do mean well, are putting a bill together being backed by senators that will have all home owners in the country share the risk of disasters.

Ohh, it sounded so lovely, all home owners will now share in the risk, not just the poor souls living on the edge of the cliffs.

All home owners will pay into a national disaster risk fund.

Hum, national home owners insurance, just what we need ;-)

Reply to
AlMax
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Don't you just love well intentioned people? They don't know the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

There are so many things I'd like to say right now, that are so very politically incorrect and calloused but I'll just say this: Welcome to the United Socialist States.

Randy

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Reply to
<randyolb

Reply to
nitram578

Well yes and no.

we can chose not to insure, that would be silly, but still a choice if you own your home and the bank does not.

you can bet alot that many in the country in poorer rural areas have no insurance of any kind today.

or we can chose to underinsure, insure at replacement rebuild cost only, or at 170% over.

with national risk management, homeowners (I assume) would be forced to pay into the fund.

But I would guess that for this to be acepted, a limit of yearly income would need to be a "bar" that would determine if you can pay into the fund or not.

Reply to
AlMax

Why do these people always miss the obvious solution? Instead of starting up a whole new, inefficient bureaucracy, all they have to do is require the insurance companies to do their freaking job -- insure people. Make it a law that they can't weasel out of insuring those who need it most. The insurance companies are always trying to get out of insuring those who need it -- they only want your money if there's virtually no chance they'll ever have to give you anything for it.

The whole point of insurance is to share the risk. s

Reply to
raydunakin

It's called "adverse selection."

Reply to
nosig

I think you meant :-(

I remember when I used to work for a health care company, someone had a bumper sticker that read something like:

National Health Insurance the efficiency of the Post Office the compassion of the IRS at Pentagon prices

Disaster relief ought to be a one-shot benefit. You choose to rebuild your house in hurricane alley, on the mud-slopes of the PRK, on a major fault line, below sea level next to a large river, or next to a tornado causing trailer park, and you're entitled to disaster aid exactly ONCE. Choose to rebuild in the disaster area, and you're on your own.

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

Well, yes, but...

Recent premium inflation is more a result of the stock market than the disaster claims.

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

Yes, but many People find it difficult to relocate because the real estate that they own, is now a disaster area, not really a seller's market.

Reply to
Dave Grayvis

Is this "fund" like the social security "fund", where the money goes to the Treasury to be spent by congresscritters 'buying' votes with special projects for their district? Or is this a real fund?

So, what constitudes a "disaster"? Is this where people who don't build on a flood plain pay for rebuilding homes of those who do?

If I have an ice dam will the insuance pay for the repairs to fix my roof / attic so that doesn't occur anymore?

What about if my roof is 12 years old and not in very good shape, and a strong wind comes through and causes a little dammage (but not huge), will the insurance pay the full price of it's replacement?

The latter reason is why your insurance and mine - especially mine - are high. Both are claims made by the townhouse association where I live (what a mistake).

Glen

Reply to
Glen Overby

I'm with Bob. Why should I subsidize your condo at the beach?

Do people who build in hazardous areas pay rates that are high enough relative to the risk of property damage? I bet not.

Saw a hurricane survivor the other night on the news who was demanding to know "who was gonna pay her bills?". Left me speechless. I "owe" this individual something?

What I want to know is this: If a tornado blows my house down is FEMA gonna put me up for months in a hotel, give me spending money, etc. etc. etc.? Once again, I bet not.

Reply to
Tweak

Oh yeah, that reminds me...

I'm going to need some cash from you ol' buddy to help with the insanely high heating bills this winter, and also, to offset the cost of clearing the lake effect snow off my driveway so I can get out [1]...

It's not *my* fault for living here!

Tod "Two 4wd's and an Escort" Hilty

[1] Actually, we now have 14 cords of wood put up for this heating season, and "Cujo" the snowblower has new auger bearings, belts, and nitrous injection ...
Reply to
hiltyt

14 cords? 14?

I do have 3 locusts, 2.5 oaks (one of which is in the pond, which will require some ingenuity to reclaim), and some other trash wood about to cut, but they are all waiting on me.

14?!?
Reply to
Tweak

Yep. That's why I didn't get out flying that much this summer. I was married to my wife the logsplitter, and my mistresses the chainsaws!

We had two 100+ year old sugar maples taken down back in June. Didn't want to, but they had a pretty nasty fungal infection that, IMHO (and the tree guy's), made them structurally unstable. These things were about 20 feet or so from my house; both easily over 90 feet high. The stump of one was about 4.5 feet in diameter, and the other was over 5 feet in diameter. Great fun to split too... ;)

Almost 7 cords came from those. I will keep anything 2 inches in diameter or larger, and chip the rest.

In addition, several neighbors had many trees, and many large branches come down. Knowing that it would save them a boatload of money, they call "Tod the wood guy" to come cut up, split, and haul out the wood. Around here, if you do that portion of the job yourself (or find some other wood scrounging creature such as myself). you can cut almost 75% off the typical bill if the tree needs to be dropped. If it's already on the ground due to Mother Nature, well, that's a given...

So I've got Maple, Cherry, Walnut, Elm, Oak, and Hickory...

What's your flavor?

tah

Reply to
hiltyt

Welcome to The Great Society and the 3rd generation that thinks the government owes them somethimg, all the while not realizing, WE ARE the govt. but many of these people don't pay taxes to start with. The mentality has been delevoped from 35+ years of "cradle to the grave" "vote for us" I'll take care of all your needs nanny state politics. A totally absurd perception of life and what's due them.

Why should my rates go up because someone else is too stupid to build or live above the flood plain?

I hate what happened to all of the people along the coast, my heart goes out to them all, but it's their choice to live there. It's their risk to take and be blest by, or suffer the results of, their own choices. Same as I do every day.

We have helped them and will continue to do so, but these people need to learn from their mistakes and they also need to stand on their own 2 feet.

Randy

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Reply to
<randyolb

Do you do black walnut??? Got a 50 footer in the backyard just ready to fall on the house. People tell me I could sell this tree but....

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
tdstr

Point!

Give that man a chicken!

We have the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River running through town, and many people live directly next to the river in "summer cottages" that have been converted to homes. A couple of years ago, we had some massive spring rains which caused the river to flood like it hasn't in many years. The "big city TV stations" caught wind of this, and of course were "on the scene" with the residents. When asked by one stupidly over-emotional reporter, "Gosh! What a mess! What *are* you going to do?!", the resident flatly replied, "Well, we knew this would happen because we live right next to the river, and we've got sump pumps and gas powered pumps, and we made it a point not to store anything important in the basement. We'll get by on our own just fine."

And ya know what? They did. Without FEMA, without screaming about how "aid wasn't moving fast enough for THEM", without bitching about how they weren't getting enough money.

I kid you not...

My kind of people...

Me? I live in a house that's right next to the highest point in town. Now, lets talk about high winds...

tah

Reply to
hiltyt

Oh yeah Ted, definitely track down a sawmill and see what they would give you for it. If it's straight, reasonably knot and hazard free, you might be surprised how much they will *pay* you to take it down.

Great for furniture, and superior for gunstocks.

Get a couple of opinions too. You'd be surprised at the variance.

Around here, walnut and cherry command some big prices per board foot. We can't give oak, or maple away... too many trees. The walnut and cherry I cut up for firewood was essentially not "right" for lumber.

tah

Reply to
hiltyt

So, why would you need to hire an Escort?

:-)

John

Reply to
John Stein

LOL! Yeah, my "old man car" gets darn near 40mpg on the highway, and can carry way more rocket junk than my Geo Tracker. Not a speck of rust on 'er, and she runs like a top! Not too bad for a '95.

The Tracker, however, is a must for getting to launches in exceptionally muddy corn fields. Just getting out after the launch is almost as much fun as the launch *itself*!

But, then I have to wash all the mud out of the wheel wells when I get home...

tah

Reply to
hiltyt

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