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Is the world becoming uninsurable?

charleshughsmith.substack.com

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Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#561

Post by pclmulqdq »

chillfox wrote: post #525
tobyhinloopen wrote: post #283

American, living in area prone to natural disasters: "Is the WHOLE WORLD becoming uninsurable?" The answer is obviously "no" since there are other parts of the world that don't live on a hurricane highway nor build houses made from firewood in an area prone to wildfires.

It’s possible that solve the hurricane problems with proper building regulations and lower the risk of huge wildfires with controlled burning. But the US as always prefers to pretend that there’s nothing to be done when other parts of the world has figured it out. We have cyclones here similar to the hurricanes in the US and usually it just blows over some trees maybe causes a power outage. The absolute worst I have…

As the governments in the US get increasingly incompetent, insurance prices are going to have to rise. Government services are largely there to protect you during black swan events, so if those services get less and less effective, you're going to need more insurance for those events.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#562

Post by Macha »

jyounker wrote: post #441
ekianjo wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still waiting for the water to flood New York...

That happened six years ago: https://www.businessinsider.com/severe-rainfall-hits-new-yor...

And last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxqswOkZMSI

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#563

Post by gertop »

trollbridge wrote: post #516
Ekaros wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home delivery works perfectly well in less developed society. As wages are so much lower it is very much cheaper to deliver to door and possibly even get documentation for signature. Big issue in the end is cost of living. Which affects everyone and most of things in live.

The problem with home delivery in a “low trust” area is that your delivered items will get stolen, unless you can manage to stay at home all day to receive deliveries.

Porch pirates are a huge problem in America and shop lifting has gotten so bad that many products are locked behind glass doors...

It's wild how people here have blinders and think that these things only apply to "lesser" countries.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#564

Post by hb-robo »

mfro wrote: post #544
asciimov wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I briefly lived in Oklahoma I found it frustrating that they use stick frame construction for homes and apartment buildings. Even when we know how to build much safer wind resistant houses. What I thought was worse was once a tornado rips up a neighborhood builders are allowed to build replacement stick framed homes.

Oklahoma is full of lowest bidder builders. Living in OK I rarely see a house built in the last 10 years that looks like it was built to last. Yet another thing Americans don't seem to care about anymore.

More like can't care about anymore. Median household income is 63k in OK and housing costs are through the stratosphere, it's no wonder people will pick any home over none.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#565

Post by marcosdumay »

chillfox wrote: post #525
tobyhinloopen wrote: post #283

American, living in area prone to natural disasters: "Is the WHOLE WORLD becoming uninsurable?" The answer is obviously "no" since there are other parts of the world that don't live on a hurricane highway nor build houses made from firewood in an area prone to wildfires.

It’s possible that solve the hurricane problems with proper building regulations and lower the risk of huge wildfires with controlled burning. But the US as always prefers to pretend that there’s nothing to be done when other parts of the world has figured it out. We have cyclones here similar to the hurricanes in the US and usually it just blows over some trees maybe causes a power outage. The absolute worst I have…

It's so interesting to see the people in awe of that "fire hurricane" video in L.A....

We had a way more intense drought than they in my city last year (theirs are not that intense). We also had 50 km/h winds. We also had higher temperatures... And all of those to levels that we never saw before. Also, we have more trees in our cities. We had new "fire hurricane" videos every week (normally, every other year somebody films one).

And we had to evacuate dozens of homes, luckily no one was destroyed and people could return 2 months later.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#566

Post by vollbrecht »

infecto wrote: post #467
tobyhinloopen wrote: post #283

American, living in area prone to natural disasters: "Is the WHOLE WORLD becoming uninsurable?" The answer is obviously "no" since there are other parts of the world that don't live on a hurricane highway nor build houses made from firewood in an area prone to wildfires.

Honest question. Why when people describe wood framed homes do they always phrase it like houses made from "firewood", "sticks", "twigs" etc? It at least for me always detracts from the argument at hand. You could just as easily build a wood framed home with an exterior shell that is fire resistant using modern materials or brick.

One huge problem with respect to fire resistance, in American home's, are the use of truss connector plates. While they have many advantages in cost and allow impressive cheap big houses, they fundamentally weaken the wood when it burns. Often houses just collapse on that joints, not because the overall beam failed, but this interface. In the end the use of "wood" is blamed, but that failed to address the rootcause.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#567

Post by gruez »

snacksmcgee wrote: post #396
rented_mule wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some level, insurance is about spreading out financial risk. Insurance companies would love for every policy to be profitable, but if we let it go that far, it's merely a savings account with negative interest rates. At another level, insurance is about analyzing risk and making it more expensive to take bigger risks. Where do we want the tradeoff between these things? Whatever we choose, we have to have some abil…

Soon, people will realize that the entire economic system that caused climate change in the first place will not save us. Once we stop sacrificing our lives in the name of Almighty Profit, then maybe we can move forward and come up with solutions that aren't just "lol stop living in LA".

>Soon, people will realize that the entire economic system that caused climate change in the first place will not save us.

Disagree. "the entire economic system that caused climate change in the first place" is also responsible for the green transition, including cheap electric cars and renewable energy.

>Once we stop sacrificing our lives in the name of Almighty Profit, then maybe we can move forward and come up with solutions that aren't just "lol stop living in LA".

Alright, what's your solution to "the entire economic system that caused climate change in the first place" that aren't just "lol just stop capitalism"?

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#568

Post by prmoustache »

_yb2s wrote: post #532
epolanski wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always baffled at the fact that Americans don't build houses out of bricks. I read those arguments of the advantages this method has, especially financial ones, but to me it's nonsense considering that it would prevent an endless number of problems that cause the total loss. I still remember when New Orleans was hit with by Katrina, large parts of the suburbs where houses where made by wood and plastic where dest…

Unreinforced masonry is illegal in most of California and extremely dangerous- every brick becomes a projectile in an earthquake. Despite the news coverage, fires are extremely rare but nearly every home in these areas is guaranteed to face multiple massive earthquakes that would bring down a brick building.

In cusco basin in Peru spanish colons realized their brick made building were falling down at every earthquake. They also realized incas building made of thin walls built on top of large stones that can move relative to each others during an earthquake were resisting much better. They then decided to reuse the foundations of incas buildings and put their brick build constructions on top of it to have earthquake resistant building.

Earthquake resistant constructions made of stones have been known for centuries by the incas and probably other civilizations without having building entirely made of wood, why can't californians?

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#569

Post by chillfox »

skywhopper wrote: post #540
chillfox wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible that solve the hurricane problems with proper building regulations and lower the risk of huge wildfires with controlled burning. But the US as always prefers to pretend that there’s nothing to be done when other parts of the world has figured it out. We have cyclones here similar to the hurricanes in the US and usually it just blows over some trees maybe causes a power outage. The absolute worst I have…

Where is “here”? Are you sure you aren’t confusing hurricanes and tornados? Hurricanes rarely destroy houses in the US, either.

Good to know. The news always seems to find footage of destroyed suburbs whenever the US is hit by a big one.

Re: Is the world becoming uninsurable?

#570

Post by sandworm101 »

chillfox wrote: post #525
tobyhinloopen wrote: post #283

American, living in area prone to natural disasters: "Is the WHOLE WORLD becoming uninsurable?" The answer is obviously "no" since there are other parts of the world that don't live on a hurricane highway nor build houses made from firewood in an area prone to wildfires.

It’s possible that solve the hurricane problems with proper building regulations and lower the risk of huge wildfires with controlled burning. But the US as always prefers to pretend that there’s nothing to be done when other parts of the world has figured it out. We have cyclones here similar to the hurricanes in the US and usually it just blows over some trees maybe causes a power outage. The absolute worst I have…

Wildfires are not the problem. They happen all the time without causing billion-dollar insurance claims. Insurance is always assets x risk. The issue is expensive flamable housing (assets) in a wildfire area (risk). We ask for trouble when we create million-dollar wooden houses surrounded by manicured gardens in desert enviroments. And build on a slope facing pervailing winds. The answer is concrete/brick houses with metal/ceramic rooves surrounded by sand/stone/concrete. Want a big green lawn? Move to the pacific northwest. Want to live near the beating heart of the movie industry, a town where it never rains? Get used to cactuses instead of rose gardens.
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