billion schmillion, a mere bagatelle. andrew: $15 billion, 1992 dollars [~$20 billion in 2001 dollars]. 9/11: $40 billion, 2001 dollars. i’m sure there’s a calculator somehwere on the web that will convert it all to 2007 dollars, but they’ll still be big numbers, so i’m not going to go looking for one.

like it or not, we-the-people are going to be forced into the self-insurance business, because the private sector has become infested with robber barons – a decidedly piratical attitude.

After 2001 they started depending more on the re-insurance market and thus limited their company losses, but after 2005 the re-insurance rates skyrocketed. The market rise covered a lot of that, but now they are faced with a blah market and high re-insure rates. The insurance losses in San Diego alone will be over a billion. If they keep denying insurance they will interrupt their income flow and that will cause them problems.

They have been hedging their bets, but there aren’t many takers left.

Like it or not, the government is going to be forced into the insurance business, because the private sector has become very risk adverse – a decidedly uncapitalistic attitude.

climate change worries? there was a downtick in profits in 1992 [andrew] and another in 2001 [9/11] but ever since then, they’ve been doing just fine in their assumptions [or in spite of them], thank ye. 2003 [california fires] profits up. 2004 [florida hurricanes] profits up. 2005 [katrina, rita, wilma] profits up. 2006 [freebie] profits up. 2007….

granted, a market tumble will bite them in the pocketbook, but until then, they’re making out like the bandits that they are. not that i wouldn’t like to see them lose their stranglehold on the rest of us, but probably only the entire economy crashing down around our ears will do it. major ouch.

[did i fit enough cliches into that last paragraph?]

here

The market is worthless, the dollar is getting worthless, so investment isn’t the answer. They are on their way out.

If they eliminate more than half of the country as clients how are they going to make money? they should be lobbying for infrastructure improvements the same way they lobby for vehicle improvements in the auto industry. They should be raising hell about the failure to clear fuel out of public areas and near structures, the same way they adjust rates for the quality of fire departments and availability of hydrants.

Brownie just refuses to quietly fade away as a bad memory.