Ben Stein
Some Downhome Wisdom from the Woman with the Cheery Accent:
"It's my life, and I could either throw it away or make something out of it."
Posted on 08/21/2006 8:58:35 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
Time passes incredibly fast. It's already almost one year since Hurricane Katrina wrought its devastation on the Gulf Coast. Few of us will ever forget the images of the horror inflicted upon the men, women, and children of New Orleans and Mississippi.
Our hearts will also always go out to the brave firefighters, National Guardsmen, police officers, and just plain citizens who risked all to help the storm's victims.
But, as I said, time has passed, and the moment has come for taking stock and learning lessons.
No Assurance (or Insurance)
One lesson comes to me via a slightly circuitous source. It has to do with both Katrina and 9/11.
After the massive destruction on September 11, 2001, insurance companies were hit with staggering claims for damages caused by terrorism.
These losses were so great, and engendered such fear of far greater losses if the next act of terrorism were (God forbid) nuclear or radiological or biological, that insurance companies curtailed their coverage for terrorism-related incidents.
More specifically, they worked with the federal government on a plan for the feds to re-insure the insurers for catastrophic losses caused by terrorism. The insurers would bear a certain amount of the loss, then the government -- according to a fee structure agreed upon by the insurers and the government -- would pay the rest, or most of the rest.
This worked fine. But purists who say that government shouldn't be in the insurance business (never mind the immense insurance liabilities the government already has in agriculture and coastal buildings) wanted that agreement, called the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, to lapse in 2005.
It was extended to the end of 2007, when it will lapse. The insurers have largely stopped covering terrorism-related damage in response, but they're still required in many states to cover losses to workers' income from terrorism, as well as what's called "fire following loss" in which there are losses from a fire following an act of terrorism. Such losses could just about obliterate any insurer and wipe out its stockholders.
Mending the Safety Net
Like you, I've had my problems with insurers, sometimes in the most maddening ways. But we do need insurers, and by and large, they pay what they owe. And their stockholders are mostly just people like you and me. So why let them go under?
It might be better to have a federal-insurer commission to study the matter, and refine the laws so that either, 1) States can no longer require fire following loss and workers' compensation loss coverage after an act of terrorism, or, far better, 2) Have a formal agreement for the feds and the insurers to bear the loss after (again, God forbid) a really terrible terrorist event. Clearly, more thorough analysis of and more rigorous thinking about this event scenario is needed.
Likewise, for natural disasters, we desperately need a national insurance scheme whereby even poor people are insured for their losses and don't walk away empty-handed after a catastrophe. If this takes taxpayer backup, that's what it takes.
We can't let people leave their homes and apartments with empty pockets and just a few weeks of support from the government ever again. A country as rich as this one simply shouldn't let natural disaster victims be pauperized.
A Different Kind of Storm
Probably the next-best lesson from Katrina is that, while there are only rarely warnings of oncoming massive hurricanes, all of us should have a major-league storm warning protecting our own retirement expenses. Everyone needs to be adequately insured against the blow that will fall when the regular paycheck stops.
How many of us are prepared? Recent studies show a steadily worsening picture for the baby boomers and Gen X. How will we deal with it? Will we be sent reeling and penniless like the sad refugees from Katrina? Or will we be ready for whatever the future of no work or part-time work brings?
You absolutely must have a plan. I always recommend a judicious mixture of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and variable annuities. I love VA's because the checks just keep on coming whether you're well or ill, whether you have Alzheimer's or are lucid, whether you want them or not. (Ha!)
But VA's have to be bought carefully, with full regard for their complexity and the reason for each and every fee. Bought with a rifle, they are a saving grace.
Frontier Spirit
Finally, I'd like to express my personal appreciation for the survivors of Katrina and how they've triumphed.
A few days ago, I was in Whittier, Alaska, doing some commercials for the state's seafood. The housekeeper at my tiny hotel was a large woman with a cheery Southern accent. It turned out she was a refugee from Katrina, making a new life for herself.
She did a great job, had a merry attitude, and was ready for her new life on the last frontier. She gave me a huge hug when she met me and said, "It's my life, and I could either throw it away or make something out of it."
The human spirit can be magnificent, even after a disaster, even in the wilds of the far north. And each of us can show such perseverance. There's a lot more to us than we sometimes think.
Ben Stein
Some Downhome Wisdom from the Woman with the Cheery Accent:
"It's my life, and I could either throw it away or make something out of it."
Ben rocks!
Nice piece, thanks for posting it!
Nice piece, thanks for posting it!
Anyone, anyone?
1. Get out if a C5 coming 3. Be able to provide for yourself for at least 3 days
4. Plan for your pets
5. Take care of your elderly family
6. Be a good neighbor
7 Keep that receipt for your gun on you so that you can get it back when it's illegally confiscated.
8. If you apply for multiple fema cards don't have them sent to the same address.
9. Loot early. Things go fast.
10 Get to Houston. They will take care of you.
11 Don't settle for an apartment. You can get a house free.
1. Get out if a C5 coming
2. Buy flood insurance
3. Be able to provide for yourself for at least 3 days
4. Plan for your pets
5. Take care of your elderly family
6. Be a good neighbor
7 Keep that receipt for your gun on you so that you can get it back when it's illegally confiscated.
8. If you apply for multiple fema cards don't have them sent to the same address.
9. Loot early. Things go fast.
10 Get to Houston. They will take care of you.
11 Don't settle for an apartment. You can get a house free.
There. That's a little better.
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Bump for later reading.
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