Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Pirates of the Gulf Coast

I have too many posts in my head and not enough time in the day. This one has to be posted though.

Mark Folse, over at WetBank Guide, has been talking about this issue for a while: Insurance companies. Some folks commenting at his blog have mentioned the idea of filing an anti-trust suit against these thieves. Legalized extortion guaranteed to hold up the rebuilding effort here is the best description of what's going on here in the Gulf Coast region, with insurers being the extortionists.

Now, I have no problem with the idea of people making a profit, but I have some major issues with corporations crying poor, cutting off service, then posting record profits. Here in the Gulf Coast area, the insurance companies are the single biggest problem in the Recovery effort for many, many people. I think we should do what California did.

After the 1989 San Francisco earthquake I think it was, major insurance carriers refused to issue homeowners' policies. The California legislature passed a law saying to the carriers, "Okay, then you can't have any auto policies here either. Cover homeowners and their cars, or you don't get to cover anything at all. You'll get ZERO bucks outta our pockets to build your bottom line." It worked.

I can't take credit for the title of this post, it belongs to James Byrne. He wrote this editorial today and says it all.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have to wonder how much of the record profits that insurance companies are reaping are winding up in the pockets of folks like Bill Jefferson

Jason Brad Berry said...

Slate...i love your blog. I love the way you think. This state has had no balls since the Long brothers. We need to learn how to punk the Corporatocracy...not bend over for them.

We start by shutting down Port Fourchon until we get our Oil and Gas Royalties...then we kick Entergy out of the city...then we kick all the Insurance companies out and create a single Louisiana insurance provider.

If that doesn't work, we secede and legalize marijuana.