On Sep 19, 2005, at 21:35, Martha Krieg wrote:
I wonder how many insurance companies are going to go broke from this?
It'll probably be like the banks in The Crash - those which are honest and try to meet their obligations will go under, while the giants will weasel out. It'll be interesting to see how the new bankruptcy laws "play" here. They've been voted in, but aren't supposed to go into effect quite yet...
I'll bet they didn't charge premiums that would anywhere near cover this kind of disaster, whether or not they have to pay for flooded as well as blown-down homes and businesses and cars.
Probably not, though I wouldn't go as far as to place any bets. They *knew* (or should have known) the odds were against them (warnings about the leeves date back a long time, as do warnings about increased frequency and magnitude of the storms). But immediate profit - low premiums *now* and let's hope nothing happens later - is a fairly common policy when trying to sell a lot of insurance. People (those who could afford to) paid what they were *asked* to pay, in good faith.
Hoping that in the rebuild, they use some sense and don't simply rebuild it as it was, so far below sea level.
Holland has been built below the sea level and they manage to stay afloat (though it's costly) Rebuilding just the tourist section of NO (which came through better than most, anyway) is not the same as rebuilding a *better* NO. As you yourself say:
the plans to rebuild with a better mix of neighborhoods also means that the old neighborhoods will/would never coalesce again as they were, leaving people feeling disoriented and distressed, even if they are back in New Orleans.
When you've lost everything and are *still* willing to come back (I expect many will not), you don't want to come back to a new location - that would be no different than staying in Dallas
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