<p>[Taxpayers</a> May Face Hurricane Tab - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://mobile2.wsj.com/device/html_article.php?id=&CALL_URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121219552595334557.html%3Fmod=hps_us_pageone]Taxpayers”>http://mobile2.wsj.com/device/html_article.php?id=&CALL_URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121219552595334557.html%3Fmod=hps_us_pageone)</p>
<p>No different than flood insurance</p>
<p>I agree with Barrons (I don’t often do :)). Flood insurance has also encouraged building houses in risky areas.</p>
<p>Flood insurance participation has a regulation to attempt to mitigate flood damage.</p>
<p>“Act of 1968. The NFIP is a federal program enabling property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance as protection against flood losses in exchange for State and community floodplain management regulations that reduce future flood damages.”</p>
<p>But I understand Barron’s point. It’s hard to mitigate a hurricane</p>
<p>Yes, if applied to hurricane zones there would be no new building in such zones if you want the insurance. That might be OK.</p>
<p>Erewhon:</p>
<p>It’s my belief that the availability of insurance has encouraged people to continue building in flood zones in disregard of safety and cost of repair.</p>
<p>Most if not all jurisdictions have extensive ordinances/zoning in place to protect idiots. But I’m sure, as with all government bureaucracies, there are untold number of abuses</p>
<p>[Town</a> of Eastham MA - IV. Flood Plain Zoning](<a href=“http://www.eastham-ma.gov/Public_Documents/EasthamMA_ZoningBylaws/section4]Town”>http://www.eastham-ma.gov/Public_Documents/EasthamMA_ZoningBylaws/section4)</p>
<p>Obviously whatever laws they have are not very adequate along most of the southeast US coastal areas.</p>
<p>Barrons posts: Dems boost a terrible idea </p>
<p>The article he links reads:
Barrons, is it too much to ask you to read the articles you link to before you start threads with misleading titles? We’ve been through this before with your posts touting global cooling! linked to articles reporting 2007’s record high global temperatures, etc. Post what you like, but please - read the articles first. I understand you’re probably just repeating a spin that was pitched to you on some blog by someone who doesn’t care that he’s spreading disinformation, but a little effort on your part would help slow the spread of ignorance.</p>
<p>Maybe it is YOU who needs to read the article. Lead of the article I linked. Also it is backed by both BO and Hill but not McCain. </p>
<p>“As hurricane season begins, Democrats in Congress want to nationalize a chunk of the insurance business that covers major storm-damage claims”.
Florida Democrats’ effort to make a federal disaster fund a big issue in this year’s presidential race was one reason the state moved up its primary election to January from March, defying party rules. (That move is partly what’s behind the current, heated battle between the Democratic candidates over how to count Florida’s delegates in the nominating race.)</p>
<p>The fact that some local R’s support a big government handout is hardly surprising. Yet the main support nationally is from Dems.</p>
<p>Barrons, I’m inclined to agree with your opinion on the merits of the proposal. But the fact that the Wall Street Journal, which has allowed its rabidly pro-Republican editorial policies to degrade its journalistic integrity, elects to use the story as a political hit piece doesn’t mean that slant is true. If anything, it makes me question the accuracy of the rest of the story.</p>
<p>What’s your source for McCain’s stance on the bill?</p>
<p>This is a horrible idea!</p>
<p>I live in FL not 1/2 mile from the Gulf and the many idiots who build multi-bazillion dollar mansions on BARRIER ISLANDS (which are glorified sand bars) and are comfortably subsidized by Flood Insurance are a disaster just waiting to happen.</p>
<p>Why on earth should I help the wealthy build mansions in risky locations???</p>
<p>“Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who badly wants to win Florida, is resisting calls to back the program. “This is a very large federal program,” and the only state currently in a position to benefit is Florida, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mr. McCain’s policy director.”</p>
<p>From the article.</p>
<p>“Obviously whatever laws they have are not very adequate along most of the southeast US coastal areas.”</p>
<p>Floods are secondary. It’s the hurricanes that cause the damage, consequently, NFIP rarely covers damage.</p>
<p>I was talking about rules regarding building in hurricane prone areas. Many are also in flood zones but that does not cover wind damage.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>My mistake.</p>
<p>Eastern Seaboard from Galvaston to Boston is a lot of coast for Hurricanes.
San Diego to LA has a lot of lowland in Tsunami Zones.<br>
East of Rockies to Appalachia is a lot of area for Tornados.
Mississippi Drainage has a lot of flooding.</p>
<p>S is moving to your area to see if the Volcano Rainier can hold its plug.</p>
<p>However, I believe that you are on the correct path. W and his handling of Katrina increased and encouraged the moral hazard in living in areas of hurricanes and one-off disasters.</p>
<p>The problem with insurance is one of moral hazard.</p>
<p>I am no fan of Allstate or State Farm given their problems over the year. I dislike companies asking the Federal Government to bail them out of their problems, past or future where other private companies seem to be doing just fine. I believe that’s called corporate welfare.</p>
<p>I read that it was some kind of catastrophe insurance. So does Montana get covered for snowstorms and blizzards? If there truly is an insurance crisis (and I believe that there is), state insurance should have some kind of cap on coverage. We shouldn’t be subsidizing the wealthy with their oceanside condos and mansions.</p>
<p>If you build in an area where catastrophes are expected, build something cheap so that it can be cheaply replaced when things are wiped out. Have you seen a lot of the businesses by some beaches? Construction isn’t the greatest - a lot of it is pretty simple. But it would be relatively easy to replace if it was destroyed.</p>
<p>If Allstate and State Farm want a place to get reinsurance, they can call Warren Buffett who can write them up a contract without tapping the public till.</p>
<p>It looks like Clinton, Obama and McCain all received insurance money with McCain receiving the least by a wide margin. Insurance companies are pretty low on my list for getting corporate welfare.</p>
<p>Does anyone here think that nationalizing hurricane insurance is a good idea? Yeah, it had bipartisan support but so did the bankruptcy bill which was a horrible bill.</p>