6 ms·

I hate to be that person, but this is the future. Because of climate change, more of our country is barreling towards "uninhabitable". It's not Farmers fault t

I hate to be that person, but this is the future. Because of climate change, more of our country is barreling towards "uninhabitable". It's not Farmers fault that we released too much CO2 and now wildfires and hurricanes are way worse and getting even more worse. If the people of California and Florida want insurance so they can build matchbox houses in high risk disaster zones, then they can start a public insurance fund and pay for it with their own taxes.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
They did, from federal taxpayers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Progr... From my understanding, this subsidy to people living in flood prone areas was basically untouchable due to Florida’s status as a swing state. I wonder if that has or will change due to Florida no longer being a swing state.
- tedivm 3y ago
  California also has a state backed earthquake insurance program. Florida may turn into a swing state again. There's a lot of demographic changes occurring there.
  - CalRobert 3y ago
    Earthquake risk should remain reasonably consistent though, as opposed to flooding which will become increasingly bad (though, as glaciers melt, you apparently get some seismic activity due to the reduced weight on the crust)
pwarner 3y ago
For sure insurance companies have a chance to act as a forcing function to drive better building codes, fuel management, etc. Those are hard things, especially for existing homes, but it's a simpler calculation for a homeowner to put $100k into a retrofit of it will save them $10k a year in insurance...
- yanslookup 3y ago
  I've always wondered if insurance companies do this but maybe I never hear about it. Like lobbying for safer urban design, or R&D into flame resistant building materials etc. Or maybe just purely investing in companies that do those sorts of things.
commonlisp94 3y ago
> the people of California and Florida want insurance so they can build matchbox houses in high risk disaster zones, This has always been the case in Florida. Insurance simply costs more to compensate for risk. Flood insurance is separate in the US (and very costly). California might have more to do with the regulatory and legal environment. > now wildfires and hurricanes are way worse and getting even more worse. What happened to the climate/weather distinction? So, every hot day and hurricane is evidence if the earth warming? Every cold day and blizzard is a temporary local weather event, not indicative of the long term trend?
- rs999gti 3y ago
  > What happened to the climate/weather distinction? So, every hot day and hurricane is evidence if the earth warming? Every cold day and blizzard is a temporary local weather event, not indicative of the long term trend? Bad weather == that's climate change Good weather == that's just weather
  - commonlisp94 3y ago
    I hope you're joking with me.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
candiddevmike 3y ago
RE: this is the future, what is the reasoning behind the sudden (post COVID it seems) squeezing of profit from everywhere? Seems like every business is pushing profit over employees or customers. Price gauging, layoffs, all of it without any reason besides "more profit". Why the sudden influx of greed?
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Every business has always pushed profit. The only thing that changes is whether or not they have the negotiating power to get it. These are operating margins, not profit margin, but page 7 should still give an idea for which businesses have more pricing power than others. And of course, bigger companies getting bigger means businesses might simply be gaining negotiating power overall. https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    That page of chart drives me crazy from an information visualization point of view. All of those charts could [and should] have the same Y axis scaling, including being anchored at 0% at the origin, and the information would be much more easily consumed at a glance.
- supportengineer 3y ago
  Greed was held back by a sense of collectivism; as that has eroded since the 1960’s, it’s become a self-sustaining feedback loop. No one looking out for me means I’d better screw everyone else over first and “get mine”.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  I'm not sure it's particularly sudden influx, but rather a reaction to economic conditions changing. When money is cheap, economies are expanding, and the equity markets are going gang-busters as a result (from late 2009 [or maybe back to late 2002] through late 2021), it's a relatively easy environment to borrow to expand your business [as an operating company] or to engineer returns to shareholders above the risk-free investment alternatives [as a financial company]. Now, risk-free investments (such as a 30-year US Treasury) are yielding 3x what they yielded just 3 years ago. That dramatically changes the calculus when considering whether to invest in a risk-free or a risk-on asset. To me, it would be weird if companies acted the same way in such a different environment rather than weird that they act differently.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

They did, from federal taxpayers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Progr... From my understanding, this subsidy to people living in flood prone areas was basically untouchable due to Florida’s status as a swing state. I wonder if that has or will change due to Florida no longer being a swing state.

tedivm 3y ago
California also has a state backed earthquake insurance program. Florida may turn into a swing state again. There's a lot of demographic changes occurring there.
- CalRobert 3y ago
  Earthquake risk should remain reasonably consistent though, as opposed to flooding which will become increasingly bad (though, as glaciers melt, you apparently get some seismic activity due to the reduced weight on the crust)

pwarner 3y ago

For sure insurance companies have a chance to act as a forcing function to drive better building codes, fuel management, etc. Those are hard things, especially for existing homes, but it's a simpler calculation for a homeowner to put $100k into a retrofit of it will save them $10k a year in insurance...

yanslookup 3y ago
I've always wondered if insurance companies do this but maybe I never hear about it. Like lobbying for safer urban design, or R&D into flame resistant building materials etc. Or maybe just purely investing in companies that do those sorts of things.

commonlisp94 3y ago

> the people of California and Florida want insurance so they can build matchbox houses in high risk disaster zones, This has always been the case in Florida. Insurance simply costs more to compensate for risk. Flood insurance is separate in the US (and very costly). California might have more to do with the regulatory and legal environment. > now wildfires and hurricanes are way worse and getting even more worse. What happened to the climate/weather distinction? So, every hot day and hurricane is evidence if the earth warming? Every cold day and blizzard is a temporary local weather event, not indicative of the long term trend?

rs999gti 3y ago
> What happened to the climate/weather distinction? So, every hot day and hurricane is evidence if the earth warming? Every cold day and blizzard is a temporary local weather event, not indicative of the long term trend? Bad weather == that's climate change Good weather == that's just weather
- commonlisp94 3y ago
  I hope you're joking with me.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

candiddevmike 3y ago

RE: this is the future, what is the reasoning behind the sudden (post COVID it seems) squeezing of profit from everywhere? Seems like every business is pushing profit over employees or customers. Price gauging, layoffs, all of it without any reason besides "more profit". Why the sudden influx of greed?

lotsofpulp 3y ago
Every business has always pushed profit. The only thing that changes is whether or not they have the negotiating power to get it. These are operating margins, not profit margin, but page 7 should still give an idea for which businesses have more pricing power than others. And of course, bigger companies getting bigger means businesses might simply be gaining negotiating power overall. https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
- sokoloff 3y ago
  That page of chart drives me crazy from an information visualization point of view. All of those charts could [and should] have the same Y axis scaling, including being anchored at 0% at the origin, and the information would be much more easily consumed at a glance.
supportengineer 3y ago
Greed was held back by a sense of collectivism; as that has eroded since the 1960’s, it’s become a self-sustaining feedback loop. No one looking out for me means I’d better screw everyone else over first and “get mine”.
sokoloff 3y ago
I'm not sure it's particularly sudden influx, but rather a reaction to economic conditions changing. When money is cheap, economies are expanding, and the equity markets are going gang-busters as a result (from late 2009 [or maybe back to late 2002] through late 2021), it's a relatively easy environment to borrow to expand your business [as an operating company] or to engineer returns to shareholders above the risk-free investment alternatives [as a financial company]. Now, risk-free investments (such as a 30-year US Treasury) are yielding 3x what they yielded just 3 years ago. That dramatically changes the calculus when considering whether to invest in a risk-free or a risk-on asset. To me, it would be weird if companies acted the same way in such a different environment rather than weird that they act differently.