Pics of Katrina devestation

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by J_A_B
Even if they decided not to rebuild, they still have to clean up the site.  You can't just abandon a large city without experiencing a massive environmental impact.  The cleanup alone is going to cost a signifigant sum of money.  In addition, the major structures won't be a total loss.   Lots of houses and such are destroyed, but those are "fairly cheap" to replace anyway.  Think of how many houses you can build and furnish for the cost of rebuilding just one of their downtown skyscrapers at a new location.

Much of New Orleans was old and run-down.  The city will wind up better off than it was before.

J_A_B

"smoke means progress"

[Siaf__csf]

there is no insurance that covers that and magically wipes out debt. lets say you just bought a house too. add $200,000 in debt now you have to cover with no job, nowhere to live, no money.

Actually it is possible. I have a life insurance in my mortgage which will pay my family out if I die or if I lose my job for reasons other than myself, the insurance will cover the payments for 5 years.

In addition I've been thinking of getting another life insurance so that my family would get some extra cash if I die, not only the house.

They would never go to the streets, nobody has to actually, as we live in scandinavia. But owning your own house and a few acres of land beats the hell out of living in a small appartment in some city.

[StarOfAfrica2]

Most major credit cards have optional insurance coverage in case you lose your job or are incapacitated for a period of time.  The insurance pays your monthly payments while you cant work.  They have the same thing for car loans, home loans, etc.

[Lazerus]

Heard an interesting commentary yesterday.....well, Tuesday I guess.

When the levees were built around NewOrleans, the town wasn't below SL. The sedimentiary makeup of the soil there settled over time and the town literally sunk to where it is now. The Mississippi River deposited sediment that replinished soil and maintained the surface level in that area above mean SL before the levees were built, but they effectively cut off the natural replinishment of the land by the river and over time magnified the problem they were built to solve.

Not that any of that matters, but I found it interesting.


Speaking of gators...Went out to take a leak in the pond/swamp across the street about an hour ago. When I stepped to turn around, I cracked a stick and startled somthing very large about 10 ft from me right on the bank. Well, I strolled ( ) over to my car, grabbed a flashlight and went back to the mud hole. I spotted the fediddleer's head as he swam past a thatch of marsh. I kept the light there, about 10 seconds later his tail swept the marsh as it passed by. I'm guessing about 6 ft long, but coulda been more.

I think I'll piss in the bushes next to the house the next time I get the urge to enjoy the great outdoors:D

[deSelys]

OMG this is really awful.

I hope that a relief network will quickly be able to feed/shelter all those people before contagious diseases appear.

They are in my thoughts.

[SkyWolf]

Originally posted by Nilsen


If i ran an insurance company i would set enormus premiums in dangerous areas but maybe they do and it doesnt work... i dunno.

Here in Florida.... they already do that. Plus they refuse to insure many people and drop others that they've insured for many years. I apy a LOT in homeowners insurance and have a deductable of like 3500 dollars. The state is asking a few questions of the insurance companies.
Why should we let you sell car, boat,  life insurance, etc.  if you won't sell home owners insurance?
If you make 80 billion a year for 20 years and then pay out 80 billion one year... why do you feel you've lost money?

[midnight Target]

I read (I think in National Geographic) a while ago that we have made NO more vulnerable by cleaning up the Mississippi. Basically we have reduced the level of silt carried down the river to such an extent that the delta has shrunk dramatically over the years. The buffer created by the delta is no longer in place and this is what doomed NO.

[Nilsen]

By cleaning, dou you mean dredging?

[midnight Target]

Dredging, and the contruction of concrete levies and causeways that reduced the silt level.

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
I say why not?  Isn't this a cycle of nature?  Think about it.  Somone's gotta replace all those homes...that means jobs.  Somone has to clean up....that means jobs.  Somone's got to re-run all the wires...that means jobs.  I know we are ALL footing the bill via insurance premiums but all those people working and buying stuff is a way to look optomistic about it at least.

That sir is an example of economic "broken window" fallacy, it was used alot to discribe Europe after WW2.

You have a small village.  Kid throws a rock throw the bakers window.  People gather and shake their heads, but one guys says, "Well think of it this way, the glazer just got work.  The baker is going to have to buy a new window.  The glazer will then buy stuff and wealth will be spread around.".

What he doesn't realise is that the baker was going to buy a new suit with that money giving the tailor work.  The net effect of having a broken window is that the baker lost the wealth of one window.  Without the broken window he would have increased his wealth to the tune of one suit.


The distruction of assets is never a good thing.  Jobs will be created rebuilding houses etc.  But the same value in jobs are going to be lost because people can't buy things they wanted to with the money they will have to pay in taxes and increased insurance fees.

[Mustaine]

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
Most major credit cards have optional insurance coverage in case you lose your job or are incapacitated for a period of time.  The insurance pays your monthly payments while you cant work.  They have the same thing for car loans, home loans, etc.

thats if you choose to enroll in their plan and pay 2% of your balance every month to "buy" that insurance

as far as homeowner insurance, like someone mentioned, in areas vulenerable, they charge such enormous rates most can not afford the optional "hurricanes" insurance or whatever. i know it more than triples your bill for tornado insurance in iowa (step relatives own a farm there)

[Siaf__csf]

I prefer to pay the 2% and sleep my nights in peace.

Crazy things the corporate greed creates in the US.. I've never heard of anyone getting their insurance refused. I would never invest my life savings into something I can't ensure for damages.

From what I gather this kind of ensurance 'premiums' are very common down there. All the way to healthcare insurances. Funny how these premiums and refusals exist in some threads, get denied in the next.

[soda72]

Originally posted by Thrawn
That sir is an example of economic "broken window" fallacy, it was used alot to discribe Europe after WW2.

You have a small village.  Kid throws a rock throw the bakers window.  People gather and shake their heads, but one guys says, "Well think of it this way, the glazer just got work.  The baker is going to have to buy a new window.  The glazer will then buy stuff and wealth will be spread around.".

What he doesn't realise is that the baker was going to buy a new suit with that money giving the tailor work.  The net effect of having a broken window is that the baker lost the wealth of one window.  Without the broken window he would have increased his wealth to the tune of one suit.

 

I bet the glazer paid the kid to throw the rock...  

[Ripsnort]

Sat photos of before, after:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/new-orleans-imagery.htm

[GtoRA2]

incredable....

I am with the build it on high ground group.


Leave the ruins to nature as a reminder, that even in the modern world, nature will **** your **** up.