Part of the reason we have seen such a boom in building on the Gulf
coast and other hazardous places is that federal flood insurance is
subsidized. Furthermore, people know that FEMA will be ther to help em
out if they do something hazardous and get clobbered. Now I have no
objection to FEMA helping those who really didnt know they were in
peril but many people know and choose to think they are owed help when
it happens.
If we ended subsidized insurance it would help a lot to keep people
from doing stupid things. The State of FL foolishly has a pool of
money they use to help underwrite expensivre insurance on otherwise
unimsurable property and the rest of us in Fl subsidize it. This
drives me nuts. Why should I subsidize some foolish yankee who comes
down here to retire and builds on the beach.
The hazard does not go away just cuz you are not on the beach either,
there are 100 yr flood areas and even 200 yr flood areas but they dont
count the 200 yr ones which is about the time between major storm
surges in some areas.
my 'guess" is that most of the problems we are seeing from Katrina are
the product of govt subsidy of insurance that makes it possible for
people to do foolish things.M

I can't agree that "most of the problems we are seeing from Katrina are the
product of govt subsidy of insurance that makes it possible for people to do
foolish things."

New Orleans was settled long before insurance existed. The Mississippi
Coast is inhabited by mostly working stiffs employed in the gaming industry
and a large Vietnamese community in the fisheries industry. The area
between US 90 (Beach Road) and the railroad tracks is virtually filled with
working class folks. That is the area of greates devastation in
Mississippi. There are few mansions there and most of those are from the
1800s. An example is Jeff Davis' home in Biloxi which was a total loss. I
guess Katrina was a yankee! :=)

In Alabama Bayou La Batre was battered. This is a small town exclusively
engaged in the fishing industry. Folks there are hard up or poor. It, too,
includes a large number of Vietnamese families. The West end of Alabama's
Dauphin Island was hard hit. This is one of the few areas of mostly
affluent folk's summer cottages on the beach.

The overwhelming majority of those who lost everything to this storm did not
have Federal Flood Insurance. The wealthy, of course, did.

YMMV.

Butch
wrote in message
oups.com...
Part of the reason we have seen such a boom in building on the Gulf
coast and other hazardous places is that federal flood insurance is
subsidized. Furthermore, people know that FEMA will be ther to help em
out if they do something hazardous and get clobbered. Now I have no
objection to FEMA helping those who really didnt know they were in
peril but many people know and choose to think they are owed help when
it happens.
If we ended subsidized insurance it would help a lot to keep people
from doing stupid things. The State of FL foolishly has a pool of
money they use to help underwrite expensivre insurance on otherwise
unimsurable property and the rest of us in Fl subsidize it. This
drives me nuts. Why should I subsidize some foolish yankee who comes
down here to retire and builds on the beach.
The hazard does not go away just cuz you are not on the beach either,
there are 100 yr flood areas and even 200 yr flood areas but they dont
count the 200 yr ones which is about the time between major storm
surges in some areas.
my 'guess" is that most of the problems we are seeing from Katrina are
the product of govt subsidy of insurance that makes it possible for
people to do foolish things.M

I agree, I misspoke (mistyped?). My complaint is with rich people who
buy beachfront and then expect to have their insurance subsidized.

wrote:
I agree, I misspoke (mistyped?). My complaint is with rich people who
buy beachfront and then expect to have their insurance subsidized.


Set your mind at ease. This was stopped several years ago.

Of course, the possiblity exists that it was re-started on the QT by the
Bush Administration in it's quest to provide more benefits for those who
pay the highest tax rates.

DSK