Political Insider

By Aquagirl

January 20, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this

Thank goodness John Oxendine is protecting rich people who want to build along the coast. Those developers need the government to tell the insurance companies what to do! How else would they be able to build in a place that has a high probability of damage and get coverage?

I love the prospect of living 500 miles from the coast, yet having my insurance rates raised so that some fool can build a house on sand, and rebuild it when it inevitably collapses.

Mr. Oxandine needs to look at a map. The fact that we’re between Florida and the Carolinas means something, you idiot. Maybe we haven’t had the “great hurricane” yet because up until now, we’ve been pretty good at leaving our natural barriers undeveloped. Turn developers loose, and see if we don’t get billions in damage down the road.

By Rob Smith

January 20, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this

Read about Tyrone Rachal’s great firm Red Rock Global, the City of Atlanta Beltline Advisory Committee member. Should he be sitting on any Governmental Advisory Committee based on how his firm does business?

Read about the firm Redrock Global at the following link to an interesting Website

Share it…

http://redrockglobal.blogspot.com/

Click above.

Thanks, Rob

By Bobby Thigpen

January 20, 2007 2:25 PM | Link to this

Aquagirl-

Did you eat paint chips as a kid or something?

I would bet that beach houses make up at most 10% of the insured homes in those counties. From what I am reading, St. Paul isn’t making any distinction b/w those beach homes and the homes of someone who works in one of the shipping yards in Savannah or Brunswick, the home of an attorney that practices Admiralty law, the home of the school teacher that teaches the kids of the attorney and the dock workers, etc. etc. etc.

Don’t be a jerk. Coastal communities are still a very important part of our economy, not to mention that b/c somebody decided to “build a house on the sand” in the 1700’s, you now have a home 500 miles away…(speaking of which, where do you live in Georgia that is 500 miles from the coast? And you are giving advice about looking at a map?).

Anyway, I am also trying to figure out how being b/w the Carolinas and Florida implies that we will have a hurricane and Oxendine is an idiot is consistent with the idea that leaving our natural borders will somehow prevent a hurricane.

Take a dose of reality. It is a big difference between charging higher rates to the mega-mansions built 50 feet from the beach (which occurs by the way) and trying to dissuade insuring a whole region. Also, what happens when they figure out that a major hurricane can maintain its strength 100 miles inland? Insurance is a major public policy concern and I am glad that Mr. Oxendine is taking a look at the practices of St. Paul in this case.

By Aquagirl

January 20, 2007 4:00 PM | Link to this

Bobby,

Were you suckled by the government as a kid or something? You seem to still be attached to the teat.

If you think forcing a private company to do something is great, go ahead, jump on Mr.Oxendine’s bandwagon. The truth is that costal regions have been grossly overdeveloped since around the 1960’s, and the insurance industry has figured this out. The majority of the damage caused by Katrina (and most hurricanes) is within a half-mile of the coast, so spare me the boo-hooing about people 100 miles inland. The insurance companies could afford to cover those losses. And the biggest cost will be those structures directly along or very near the water, which includes rivers, canals, etc. People live along those places mainly because of the view or recreational benefits, not because they work in a shipyard. It’s those losses of the multimillion variety that the insurance industry wants to avoid. That’s why they want to dump the coastal counties.

The fact that Oglethorpe decided to land at Savannah has little to do with this argument. Yes, costal communities started this country, but really, we can move inland. And I cited 500 miles not as a statement of my current location, but as an example of someone living where a hurricane would have little chance of causing damage.

We are located on the atlantic coast, between other states that have experienced major hurricanes. If you don’t understand why that implies that we’ll have one too, then you drank that lead paint as a kid. And so did Oxendine. What a completely moronic statement.The fact that Oxendine doesn’t want us “lumped in” with the other states is bizarre. Like we have some sort of anti-hurricane machine on the coast.

BTW, Barrier islands and wetlands are natural defenses against hurricanes, unless you’re stupid enough to build a lot of crap there. Like say, New Orleans. Then everything gets destroyed, and the losses are enormous. To encourage development in places that are subject to fairly certain destructive forces is crazy. Hurricanes will occur, they will flood/blow away a lot of buildings near the water, especially if they aren’t constructed with a hurricane in mind. Duh.

Go back to your nursing. John Oxendine’s apparently happy to let you latch on to an available spot on his breast.

By Mike

January 20, 2007 8:12 PM | Link to this

Thank you for standing up for us Mr. Oxendine.

By Phil Dolan

January 21, 2007 8:41 AM | Link to this

Mike, Mr. Oxendine is sitting. The fine point, which all of you have missed is this: Hurricane: wind or flood? Can a hurricane rush ashore and not cause a surge of water to flood the area? Can a hurricane be defined without the word “flood”? Wind damage is only half of a hurricane’s legacy, yet insurance companies wont cover the water damage from the surge of water that gets pushed ashore by every hurricane that’s ever happened.

This is an underwriting fraud. We, as Georgians, need to stand up as one people, and demand that a hurricane be legally defined as wind and flood, and any “hurricane insurance” be forced to pay for all the damage that happens when the meteorologists declare a storm a “hurricane”.

Otherwise, we’re being screwed once again by the man. And I, for one, am sick of it, and getting weary of “officials” like Oxendine, who run interference for underwriters by inventing red herrings to distract the public from the real issues.

Georgians Standing Together (a nonprofit volunteer organization that asks for no donations, only voices. Let your voice be heard on this issue. Talk. Shout. Sing. Burb. whatever. but let your feeling about underwriting fraud be known to one and all. )

I SAID TALK!!!!

By Phil Dolan

January 21, 2007 8:48 AM | Link to this

One more thing: underwriting fraud is why our schools teach religion, not science. Our oceans go unexplored on purpose: if we ever understand the ocean’s tides and surges, and storms and the link to the coastline, and underwater volcanoes and sealife and everything wet, then we’d know how we were being deceived by underwriting when it comes time to defining oceanic phenomena.

They want us dumb, and blind, and pathetic, so they dont have to pay us, and they can continue to give all the wealth to the handful of ceo’s and board members, and shareholders. Insurance is a public utility and should not be for profit. Look at Katrina victims and tell me the insurance industry is honest.

That’s a fact, jack.

TALK ABOUT IT WITH EVEYONE YOU SEE!!!!!

Georgian’s Standing Together

By MrLiberty

January 21, 2007 7:35 PM | Link to this

Wow, a company is trying to be responsible in taking on potential liabilities when writing insurance policies. Good for them.

If the idiots who live along the coast - Georgai, SC, NC, Florida, or whichever would pay attention to some history, and were finally forced to pay an appropriate premium for the risk they are asking the insurance company to cover, then everything would be fine. Instead they take advantage of government subsidized insurance, or get idiot insurance commissioners to go after their insurance companies.

Hey idiots - there is a reason why insurance in hurricane and flood prone areas costs so much. Deal with it, take the hint, and live somewhere appropriate. Just because GA hasn’t been hit recently doesn’t mean is won’t, and the amount of building that has gone on recently means that when the big one comes, the losses are going to be great. I say don’t sell these folks any insurance. That will send the right message. Maybe that will be one they will get.