CompuServe Messages

MD> You're right about loans. The government shouldn't be a substitute MD> for common sense and responsibility. Welfare is the new opiate. Yeah, and "provide for the general welfare" has been extended to "provide for individual's welfare" without thinking about where the incentive to provide for yourself goes when charity becomes a "right". MD> I don't think you'ld really consider that money worth it considering MD> the true liklihood of damage exceeding the deductible – they all MD> exceed $10000. There are a few places where it may have some value MD> but, in general, it is a low risk, high profit product of the MD> insurance companies. Maybe so, but for the Ins.Cos., it's closer to an all-or-nothing situation. Not like Major Medical insurance, where there will be a certain statistical number of payouts out of the pool of insured people. When a quake (or other natural disaster) hits, the entire area has large losses. Witness Hurricane Andrew in Dade County, Florida. What really frosts _me_ is the Feds going in and rebuilding Homestead with tax $$$ when it was slated to be closed. Any business working with money it was responsible for would have seized that opportunity to walk away instead of sinking $$$ into a wasted cause….but the Feds don't care about taxpayer pockets, they're infinitely deep <g>. I carry MM ins, BTW, and pay my own small medical expenses as part of living. But I don't want to be wiped out in the event of a major medical expense. Likewise I'd be willing to lose 10k to 20k of my equity in order to pay off the balance of my loan in the event of a quake. But many people would rather NOT take responsibility for their decisions (a) in borrowing money for houses; or (b) in choosing to live in dangerous areas (floodplains, barrier islands, earthquake-prone areas). Instead they'd rather defer to the banks who loaned the money to them. On the flip side of this coin IMO any bank which would permit a mortgagor to borrow without enough insurance is asking for trouble itself <grin> so maybe Chapter 7 isn't such a Bad Thing for people who borrowed from such banks – the banks will pay for _their_ poor judgment. Yours in freedom, -=< Angus Scott-Fleming >=- GeoApplications Tucson, Arizona * TANSTAAFL * I'd rather be dead than domesticated. Poul Andersen