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10-31-2012, 01:36 PM
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#101
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Cleveland
Posts: 344
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Lost electricity here in the Cleveland, Ohio area Monday at 5:00 p.m. Still out as of now (48 hours later) with no end in sight. Last I heard they were telling people to plan for it being out till Friday or Saturday!
The cheapskate in me is frustrated over the $200 worth of food I am going to have to throw away that was in my refigerator and freezer.
Luckily, there are still many restaurants and bars nearby who have not lost power. I have a built in excuse to spend my evenings (after work) in the local Sports Pubs!
Also thankful it is not too cold (45). Sleeping at home has been bearable the last couple nights at that temp.
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10-31-2012, 06:26 PM
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#102
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,888
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird5825
The next time I see someone complain about public w*rkers...
We are home and safe..they are not. Any questions ?
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Hold on there cowgirl!
Just because many public workers do a great job, and some risk life and limb for our safety, does not mean we can't legitimately complain about any slackers.
I would hope that the good ones would be the first to complain about the 'bad apples' that give the good ones a bad name (in some people's minds - I don't judge a group by the few).
Is that OK?
-ERD50
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10-31-2012, 06:36 PM
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#103
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,036
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Why don't you just give it a rest for awhile?
__________________
Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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10-31-2012, 07:08 PM
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#104
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 84
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby
Why don't you just give it a rest for awhile?
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+1
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10-31-2012, 07:23 PM
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#105
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,596
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Just heard from some friends of ours who live about 35 miles west of DC in Virginia. Four big trees down on their property - one hit their house, one's blocking the driveway, and two just down in the yard. Some family of ours in southwestern VA got some snow and sleet. I know most of the most serious damage is concentrated in NJ and NY, but dang this was one big, bad a$$ storm. Never seen anything like it.
__________________
I purr therefore I am.
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10-31-2012, 08:02 PM
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#106
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,252
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Left Long Island today. Since airports not really open and several flight cancellations interfered with getting out before Saturday, I hitched a ride to Pittsburgh where a plane awaits me tomorrow. Didn't need to use any cash despite no power since Monday.
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10-31-2012, 08:36 PM
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#107
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 7,113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
...
As for insurer liquidity, insurers specifically construct their balance sheets with these types of events in mind and the industry as a whole is awash with an excess amount of capital.
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This event should fix that. How liquid is that capital?
__________________
Duck bjorn.
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10-31-2012, 09:08 PM
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#108
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Kerrville,Tx
Posts: 3,361
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst
We tried filling the bathtubs last time. The water leaked out! I imagine there is some sort of fix for that, but how do you justify paying a plumber to fix the bathtubs to ensure they hold water for a week during a power outage? Plumbers charge $115.00 just to come to the house around here.
Amethyst
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Actually a couple of plastic garbage cans would work, put a garbage bag inside and fill as needed. New cans typically hold water on their own but the bags help. The cans are strong enough to hold the weight.
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11-01-2012, 06:00 AM
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#109
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,327
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird5825
Nords...please please PLEASE jump all over this...
Inside Breezy Point: An Inferno in a Flood - Yahoo! News
The fire could not be prevented. Emergency w*rkers have to overcome stupidity and be redirected to rescue fools versus doing the j*b they were trained to do...emergency response NOT fighting Darwinian selection.
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The home owners couldn't do anything about this but it is possible the city could have. I just saw a news overhead of teh fire area and they mentioned that some ocean front communities cut power when the hurricane came ashore. This area didn't. A lot of places had fires started by electrical shorts, sometimes accelerated by gas leaks. With a mandatory evacuation notice it seems reasonable to cut power until roads are clear enough for emergency vehicles to get back in.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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11-01-2012, 08:40 AM
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#110
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brat
This event should fix that. How liquid is that capital?
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Nah, this event is likely to be bupkis to the industry. So far the catastrophe modellers have kicked out 7 to 15 billion as the preliminary estimate of losses. Initial estimates are usually too low, so lets assume that the likely loss range is more like 15 to 20 billion. Sounds like a big number, but the industry as a whole finished 2011 with policyholders' surplus (regulatory capital measure) of $550 billion (see: III - 2011 - Year End Results ). In addition, a fair chunk of losses like this get transfered to the global reinsurance industry, which represents another pool of caital.
As far as liquidity goes, property casualty balance sheets are usually very conservatively invested. 80 to 90% of assets will typically be in investment grade fixed income, ghenerally with pretty modest durations and concentrated in the most liquid sectors of the market.
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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11-01-2012, 10:24 AM
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#111
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
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I am hearing pretty ugly stories from my former neighbors and friends in central NJ. Likely power outages for two weeks or more, low water pressure, flooding, major house damage from large trees falling. In my old cul-de-sac neighborhood a huge tree hit a pumping substation and now raw sewage is being dumped out, much of which is ending up in the lake. In NYC there are widespread power outages, flooding, nobody can go anywhere, although apparently they are managing to restock the supermarkets.
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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11-01-2012, 10:35 AM
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#112
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Peru
Posts: 6,335
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From friend on Long Beach...3 blocks from beach
"total- utter devastation"
no electricity
no water or sewer
all grass disappeared under 4 to 12 inches of sand
no gas
intermittent cell phone
no cable
boats in yards three blocks from beach
no way to get to work
stores closed
those that are open low or no food
some local businesses have thrown in towel, incl friends wife's employer
homes with basements are flooded
ocean covered entire island
half of all trees down
as of Wednesday - residents emotionally stunned.
Google view of Long Beach gives an idea of closeness of housing.
Bloomberg on losses...
Sandy Damage Estimate Raised to as Much as $50 Billion - Bloomberg
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11-01-2012, 10:48 AM
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#113
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imoldernu
From friend on Long Beach...3 blocks from beach
"total- utter devastation"
no electricity
no water or sewer
all grass disappeared under 4 to 12 inches of sand
no gas
intermittent cell phone
no cable
boats in yards three blocks from beach
no way to get to work
stores closed
those that are open low or no food
some local businesses have thrown in towel, incl friends wife's employer
homes with basements are flooded
ocean covered entire island
half of all trees down
as of Wednesday - residents emotionally stunned.
Google view of Long Beach gives an idea of closeness of housing.
Bloomberg on losses...
Sandy Damage Estimate Raised to as Much as $50 Billion - Bloomberg
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Sad to see, but I have to wonder: why do we keep rebuilding on barrier islands like this?
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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11-01-2012, 11:22 AM
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#114
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
Sad to see, but I have to wonder: why do we keep rebuilding on barrier islands like this?
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Because if private insurers are too smart to insure this stuff, we benevolent taxpayers, through our government and the magic of deficit financing, will step into the gap.
And because infantile people will not accept any limits on their wills.
Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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11-01-2012, 11:46 AM
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#115
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 7,113
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Developers want to build, people want cheap land, cities want to increase their tax base. Zoning and City Planners are told by politicians to allow it.
Now is the time for insurers to say NO to rebuilding in those areas. Give the home owner the $ to which they would be entitled in a re-build and tell them to go home shopping. Back in the day, in the 60s, the only houses on Fire Island were beach cottages that everyone understood were expendable.
Development is a political act. We can't expect politicians to push back, it is time for insurers to tell the public that if they build in vulnerable areas the price will be high. I recall the residents of Florida complaining of the cost of insurance, evidently the state stepped in with some kind of public insurance program. I hope that NY and NJ don't do that for any rebuilds. There is no reason to distribute that risk across the community.
__________________
Duck bjorn.
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11-01-2012, 12:10 PM
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#116
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,391
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brat
Now is the time for insurers to say NO to rebuilding in those areas
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Based on what I see with Fire insurance claims here in SoCal I don't think it will happen.
Here in SoCal people love to live right next to the forest areas prone to firestorms. In some areas a firestorm comes through every decade or so. Afterward we hear pundits and the press make statements such as yours.
Yet the houses get rebuilt bigger and bolder. Over the years more and more people build in these areas. And when the insurance rates go a little higher, the politicians see that the risk gets spread amoungst those far away from the danger so that those in great peril don't have to pay too much..
We all pay more so that people can live in these damage-prone areas.
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11-01-2012, 12:12 PM
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#117
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,598
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brat
Developers want to build, people want cheap land, cities want to increase their tax base. Zoning and City Planners are told by politicians to allow it.
Now is the time for insurers to say NO to rebuilding in those areas. Give the home owner the $ to which they would be entitled in a re-build and tell them to go home shopping. Back in the day, in the 60s, the only houses on Fire Island were beach cottages that everyone understood were expendable.
Development is a political act. We can't expect politicians to push back, it is time for insurers to tell the public that if they build in vulnerable areas the price will be high. I recall the residents of Florida complaining of the cost of insurance, evidently the state stepped in with some kind of public insurance program. I hope that NY and NJ don't do that for any rebuilds. There is no reason to distribute that risk across the community.
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This is a tragedy and may become a bigger one for some property owners. I have seen instances where building permits for reconstruction after tornados were denied, making the properties unbuildable. The driving force is FEMA, the agency that regulates construction in flood prone areas. The builders filed for building permits, the city building dept's checked and found that the properties were in a FEMA defined flood plain, and the permits were denied.
Since the geographic limits of property remains unchanged during such an event, many properties could be under water, let alone in a flood plain. My heart goes out to these people because there is not much that they can do.
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11-01-2012, 12:14 PM
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#118
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,361
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donheff
....With a mandatory evacuation notice it seems reasonable to cut power until roads are clear enough for emergency vehicles to get back in.
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That an knowing that the power would be cut might encourage some of the idiots people that would otherwise stay to evacuate.
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11-01-2012, 12:17 PM
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#119
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,361
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
Nah, this event is likely to be bupkis to the industry. So far the catastrophe modellers have kicked out 7 to 15 billion as the preliminary estimate of losses. Initial estimates are usually too low, so lets assume that the likely loss range is more like 15 to 20 billion. Sounds like a big number, but the industry as a whole finished 2011 with policyholders' surplus (regulatory capital measure) of $550 billion (see: III - 2011 - Year End Results ). In addition, a fair chunk of losses like this get transfered to the global reinsurance industry, which represents another pool of caital.
As far as liquidity goes, property casualty balance sheets are usually very conservatively invested. 80 to 90% of assets will typically be in investment grade fixed income, ghenerally with pretty modest durations and concentrated in the most liquid sectors of the market.
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+1 It will be an unwanted hiccup, and will dampen 2012 profits, but not debilitating in any way.
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11-01-2012, 12:33 PM
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#120
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,259
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It would probably help for the Gubmint to stop insuring people who choose to build or rebuild in these areas. Use the existing insurance payments to buy them out and turn the beaches into public spaces.
Need a storm surge barrier? Look no farther than the Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeslantkering
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...QEwBg&dur=2562
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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