←back to thread

Is the world becoming uninsurable?

(charleshughsmith.substack.com)
476 points spking | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.217s | source
Show context
api_or_ipa ◴[] No.42733229[source]
Every era has it's Malthusian alarmists and without fail, each has been proven wrong by exactly the same thing the author decries and says won't work this time: technological change and adaption. There's no reason to think this time will be any different. Will some places become uninsurable? Sure, plenty of places over time have become uninsurable. Will the whole world became uninsurable? Absolutely not, because we are quite good at adaptation in the face of adversity.

The issue in California is not the price of insurance, it's availability because of extremely myopic ballot initiatives that are entirely political in nature. Should insurance be fairly priced, then the market can force people out of uninsurable areas and into areas with far less chance to burn.

replies(10): >>42733284 #>>42733296 #>>42733323 #>>42733356 #>>42733401 #>>42734178 #>>42734317 #>>42735488 #>>42735623 #>>42740933 #
1. locallost ◴[] No.42735623[source]
This is the same logic that almost destroyed the financial system in 2008. "House prices always go up, and there is no reason to think this time will be different". Fine logic that works until it doesn't.

At best your logic works because people get concerned, and work to solve the problem. Once there is a critical mass of people unconcerned, like yourself, that think we will magically adapt and solve the problem, we're screwed.