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Just read an article talking about the disaster money being requested for Florida after Irma hits.
It seems that the reason it will be more costly to help Florida now (as opposed to cost in the past), is due in part to the the amount of Fortune 500 companies that have moved to Florida (Miami in particular if I was awake enough to make sense of it) over the past decade or two.
Sorry, I have not looked further into that today, so I have no links. I have no idea where I found the article.
I was shocked, no idea why.... I am sure I should have been aware. Still.... when I think of disaster relief I think of humans, and their homes, being out of jobs, and losing their worlds possessions. We're bailing out corporations, and sure that includes local jobs there.
Especially for those pissed that people who "build too close to the coast", wake up.... think about it. If you don't want tax money to go to disaster relief / rebuilding, look at who gets the bulk of the dollars. Who DOES it actually go to?
I won't, I totally hate politics because they often make the basic most common sense things convoluted and screw it up.
If you can spend billions on a wall that will not work, you can spend the money to help someone get back on their feet.
And what about the billions to wars that DO NOT WORK.
There was an editorial in the paper regarding no-zoning Houston, where developers were building housing developments in low-lying areas, subject to flooding. I believe the payout for Hurricane Sandy, was around $175 billion. And the Governor of TX is estimating the payout for Houston to be around $125 billion. Taxpayer's dollars!
Now, the way I see it, if Houston and Harris County allowed these developments, isn't this negligence on their part? Shouldn't Harris County pay for their own negligence, as opposed to American taxpayer's?
Building wooden structures along the Gulf coast, as opposed to concrete structures, we should pay for their oversights?
What do you think?
Pragmatically though it's the lenders whose mortgages and/or trust deeds encumber this flooded real estate that would take the big fall. The losses unfortunately get socialized one way or another. I hate this "heads I win tails you lose" game but that's life.
There was an editorial in the paper regarding no-zoning Houston, where developers were building housing developments in low-lying areas, subject to flooding. I believe the payout for Hurricane Sandy, was around $175 billion. And the Governor of TX is estimating the payout for Houston to be around $125 billion. Taxpayer's dollars!
Now, the way I see it, if Houston and Harris County allowed these developments, isn't this negligence on their part? Shouldn't Harris County pay for their own negligence, as opposed to American taxpayer's?
Building wooden structures along the Gulf coast, as opposed to concrete structures, we should pay for their oversights?
What do you think?
Utter nonsense to blame it on Houston's lack of zoning laws.
They got 2-4 feet of rain over a few hundred square miles.
There is not a significant city in the world that can handle that.
arent texans all conservative republicans??
arent these people always preaching personal resposibilities??
arent they always against government hand outs??
arent they the biggest bunch of hypocrites???
1. Houston is predominantly liberal.
2. They do preach personal responsiblity, which would include keeping their own money for future disasters.
3. See #2.
4. We'll revisit what to call folks after the next disaster, when those that decided Texas should be on their own need help themselves.
And what will be the economic cost if the government didn't do anything? Recession perhaps?
Economic "cost"?
I don't know what you are referring to. Rebuilding millionaires houses on barrier islands...or rebuilding slab-on-grade low lying ranch houses in Houston is a crazy idea.
It sounds like you are one of those people who pray at the Altar of GDP. Remember, if your health care costs DOUBLE, that adds to GDP.
So, if we saved money and had better health care would you complain about the hit to "economic activity"? Of course not (unless you were in the business)....
No, S. Florida could float away (and my parents are there) and it will not touch the economy....mostly Russians and S. Americans buying there these days. Houston is about chemical factories, which are insured and will be back up and running shortly.
The total value of the USA is something like 125 TRILLION dollars. A total loss of 1/3 of 1% of that will not move the needle.
They could make the bail-out subject to improved building code and the enactment of zoning laws. Re-building in flood-prone areas, like Galveston, and those island environments especially, shouldn't be allowed. Some areas should simply be abandoned, and perhaps restored as wetland buffers. The whole issue needs to be studied, before proceeding blindly; you're right.
I agree with that, let the states pay for the repairs if they don't pass and enforce reasonable building and zoning laws.
There was an editorial in the paper regarding no-zoning Houston, where developers were building housing developments in low-lying areas, subject to flooding. I believe the payout for Hurricane Sandy, was around $175 billion. And the Governor of TX is estimating the payout for Houston to be around $125 billion. Taxpayer's dollars!
Now, the way I see it, if Houston and Harris County allowed these developments, isn't this negligence on their part? Shouldn't Harris County pay for their own negligence, as opposed to American taxpayer's?
Building wooden structures along the Gulf coast, as opposed to concrete structures, we should pay for their oversights?
What do you think?
Overall you have a point. That said what criteria do we use to determine at which point do we stop subsidizing people living in hazardous areas? Regardless of which authority you choose (owner, developer, local Gov, State Gov, Federal Gov.).
If for instance you choose to build in the Caldera of an active volcano 4' above typical magma levels should you be bailed out of your house burns down, or is submerged in the magma? Nope not in my opinion.
The same applies to natural disasters of a less clear sort, for flooding you'd need to evaluate the 100 year risk of flooding and come up with a coefficient of risk. Living on the peak of a 10,000' mountain is probably giving you 0, living under MSL near the Gulf of Mexico probably is giving you a 5+ (about 5 flood events a century). Same principle applies to every piece of real estate and natural disaster happening in the US from earthquakes to forest fires to tornadoes, then it can be determined at which coefficient do we not subsidize.
That would be the smart thing to do, and things like insurance encourage folks to not live in areas of high risk (that's why insurance payments are high in high risk areas), but it's not always easy to move (especially when buyers know about the high insurance rates). However at some point even the most stubborn owner must realize that the area isn't permanently habitable. Do we soften the impact of abandoning by some form of parachute payment?
Problem is that as a species we don't really consider natural disasters strongly in our habitation decisions. It's why the first settlement in Puget Sound was on Alki Point, ignoring that it was free of native habitation (wonder why...), but transitioned away from there after a few high tides and floods. We really should be considering them, because even if things don't get worse it's unlikely they'll get better in anything but geological time.
So no we shouldn't blindly bail out, but we do need to transition towards better safety from natural disasters, and at times just write off complete areas as uninhabitable.
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