Sandy should make us re-think things

[boogielicious]

Just a follow up from my story from above.  My mother reminded me that she just finished paying off her SBA loan from the Blizzard of '78 four years ago.  With interest, she paid more than 3 times the loan amount.  The Federal Government sure made out on that.

[JetFan1983]

Haven't read this entire thread yet, but I just wanted to say that I just got power back.

I have a few ideas on how Sandy has made me rethink things, but I don't really want to think about that stupid Hurricane for a while. What I will say is THANK YOU to all the people from Alabama, Missouri, MIssissippi, and Canada who came all the way up here to help my community and so many others get back on their feet. You are amazing people. I'm sure there were people from other areas who came to help, but the people I met were from there.

OK, time to go back to day dreaming about golf for the next couple hours.

[MEfree]

Glad to hear you got your power back JetFan.

There was an interesting article in the NYT the other day regarding the Federal Flood Insurance program which appears to have been in $18 B debt after Katrina.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/nyregion/federal-flood-insurance-program-faces-new-stress.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc;=edit_th_20121113&_r=0

Seems as if congress overhauled it this past summer, but others seem to feel that there should be more improvements.

A couple of things that jumped out at me:

" Perhaps the most troubling problem, program officials acknowledge, is that only a tiny share of enrolled properties accounts for a giant share of the overall claims, as the properties are repeatedly flooded and rebuilt in low coastal regions and in hurricane flight paths.

One Biloxi, Miss., property valued at $183,000 flooded 15 times over a decade, costing the program $1.47 million, according to federal data provided by the agency to a member of Congress. Another in Humble, Tex., has resulted in over $2 million in flood payouts even though it was worth just $116,000."

and

" Even with the new rules, critics argue, it will be many years, if ever, before many homeowners are required to pay premiums that accurately reflect the market cost of the coverage. Some communities have long resisted imposing more appropriate building codes to prevent damage, putting the program at further risk of devastating losses when storms like Hurricane Sandy hit. And despite some efforts in recent years, many of the flood maps the program relies on are out of date"

and

" But the program is still a moneymaker for the private insurance industry. Even though these companies bear none of the risk, they take, on average, $1 billion a year of the premiums the government collects, as compensation for help in selling and servicing the policies. Federal auditors argue the payments are excessive ."