I am stunned at the number of people reading this blog who think that those who are richer than they, or who choose to live differently than they should somehow be forced to comply with their own way of life.
I guess I shouldn’t be. People who claim to support “freedom” only want freedoms that they agree with. No different than people who only want free speech with which they agree.
So far this week, we have heard from people who want to eliminate fat people, people who own expensive homes, people who don’t eat like you, and other freedoms. All because they don’t like paying insurance.
Enjoy your soy and cricket dinners, hypocrites.
33 Comments
jimmyPx · September 30, 2024 at 8:56 am
It’s the old “rules for thee but not for ME”.
The wealthy and “elites” believe that but deep down so do many Americans.
What happened to the idea of helping out your neighbors in a crisis ?
Aren’t all citizens of this country really our neighbors although some live farther away ?
Regarding beach towns like Cedar Key that gets leveled every hurricane, they should do like Galveston did a century ago after many hurricanes. They literally raised the town above where most storm surges happen. Then have strict building codes with concrete homes, If they did that then much of the damage during a storm would be eliminated.
Regarding building codes, I hate the heavy hand of the government as much as anyone but I’ll be honest that I was thankful of the post hurricane Andrew Florida building codes a few days ago.
Because of those, my house is designed to handle up to 125mph winds and because of that almost no one lost their home in my area.
If we the people are subsidising the rebuilding of your house, it is not unreasonable to have tougher building codes with the new house so that we don’t have to pay for another new house in a few years ?
Read about raising Galveston:
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/texas-story-project/raising-galveston-above-the-gulf
Divemedic · September 30, 2024 at 9:43 am
Where did I say I was opposed to building codes?
Helping your neighbor voluntarily is great. Having the government force you to help under penalty of jail? That isn’t charity.
jimmyPx · September 30, 2024 at 9:55 pm
DM, you per se didn’t say anything about building codes but when people are building (or rebuilding) in Florida you hear ALOT of gripes about the building codes and the added cost. “YOU’RE INFRINGING ON MY RIGHTS AND FREEDOM” people cry but then when their house is damaged or destroyed, their hands are out for federal money to rebuild.
Michael · September 30, 2024 at 8:56 am
With freedom comes what?
RESPONSIBILITY.
Everyone I talk to want Freedom but also the socialism of a safety net. No government limits on “Me” BUT come and “save me ” when trouble comes.
With the Freedom to live well beyond EMS (Especially Fire Departments) comes from taking RESPONSIBILITY for those “missing services “.
Don’t want to pay for insurance? If you have a mortgage the Bank “might ” allow that IF you lock up enough money in their bank to pay the mortgage off and or replace the house.
In the pre-insurance years a Florida beach house was a nice shack, easy to replace after the next major storm.
Today, Mc Mansions BECAUSE “Its INSURANCE”.
Deal with it.
Michael
Birdog357 · September 30, 2024 at 12:16 pm
I don’t care if Floridians want to make stupid choices on where to live. The problem comes in when they bitch for bailouts every time their stupid choices bite them on the ass. That’s socialism. And I’m tired of paying for it. I can barely makes ends meet and now I have to pay for the disaster response for an area that has a 100% chance of being destroyed every 50 years …
Divemedic · September 30, 2024 at 1:37 pm
There are disasters everywhere.
Florida has hurricanes, but not as frequently as all that. It’s a big state, remember. It takes 12 hours to drive from Key West to Pensacola. There isn’t any spot that I can think of that’s taken a direct hit twice. Also getting hurricanes frequently is Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and both Carolinas.
California has earthquakes, mudslides, and wildfires.
There is the blight of the major cities up north that cost far more than the natural disasters in the north.
So what is your proposal?
Refuse Federal disaster response? Or just to Florida? If so, do we in Florida get to stop paying Federal taxes? Or can we simply not allow anyone from another state to move to Florida? I am OK with that, too.
J · September 30, 2024 at 3:54 pm
Actually yes; end Federal Disaster aid completely. For everyone. This is a State & charity issue, not a Federal one. No more should residents of North Dakota be paying for storm relief in the SE than Floridians should be paying for the effects of the Red River floods in ND.
FEMA is a ‘young’ agency only going back to the ‘70’s. And while there was some ad hoc Federal aid prior, we were able to get along just fine before FEMA.
Divemedic · September 30, 2024 at 4:10 pm
OK. Does that apply to all Federal aid? Welfare? Social Security?
If you want to end it all, I support you. As soon as conditions are placed upon it, like telling me where to live, what to eat, or who to befriend, then no deal.
What I am opposed to is telling people “If you want help with X, then you have to do Y.”
J · September 30, 2024 at 4:49 pm
Absolutely agree with you.
Yes, end the Federal Administration of all of it. They can keep anything defined in the Constitution.
Steve · October 1, 2024 at 7:07 pm
“Does that apply to all Federal aid? ”
All aid. Fed, state and local. No more pensions for gov’t workers, clear down to fire, police, military and dog catcher. No more paid health plans or defined benefit programs for teachers.
Maybe you would go that far, but if so, we are in the decided minority.
Steve · October 1, 2024 at 7:18 pm
Social Security was no different than any other gov’t pension program, except that the people had to pay into it on pain of prison time.
So if your question is eliminate all government pensions, police, military, firefighters, teachers, etc., sure, I’m all in. If it’s just that I get screwed while so many others get their defined benefit programs and lifetime Cadillac health plans, in many cases, not having contributed one red cent, fuck that noise.
Divemedic · October 1, 2024 at 7:24 pm
Social security and pensions are off topic. We are talking about limiting disaster aid because people don’t like that some live in disaster prone areas.
Steve · October 2, 2024 at 11:09 am
OK. My bad. I only replied because you had brought welfare and SS up in your reply.
Birdog357 · September 30, 2024 at 4:03 pm
Stop building houses at sea level and expecting the rest of us to replace them when the inevitable hurricane wipes them out. The problem is you people have very short memories. https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#map=6.22/27.829/-81.479&search=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 puts the lie to the claim that places don’t get hit twice. I put in Orlando because it’s pretty near the center of the state and got over 100 storm tracks. The Tallahassee area has had two cat 4+ storms in the past 6 years. If you want to live there, you need to pay full freight for it and quit expecting the rest of us to pay for your stupid decisions. I’m 100% on board with cutting off California from disaster response too for the same reasons.
Divemedic · September 30, 2024 at 4:07 pm
Those places that were hit more than once were hit a hundred or more years apart. I also see that you included extratropical and tropical storms. Tone it down to storms that were CAT 3 or higher at landfall, and that number drops to the point that it shows your “I am tired of paying for rich people to insure houses that get destroyed every 10 years” to be the socialist class hatred lie that it is.
The two storms that hit in the big bend were close, but not close enough together to make it meaningful. Remember that the strongest winds are only 10 or 20 miles from the center. A ten mile change in landfall makes a world of difference.
No one is asking taxpayers to foot the bill of rebuilding. It’s insurance that does so, and if you don’t want to pay for that, then don’t have insurance.
Birdog357 · September 30, 2024 at 10:15 pm
https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#map=6.22/26.752/-80.562&search=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s More to your liking? Cat3+, last 54 years only. It’s a lot easier to manipulate the map on a PC than my phone where I was earlier. Naples and Cape Coral look like they get their ass kicked on the regular. Even I know that it’s not just the eyewall winds that are the problem, it’s the storm surge and flooding. And the flooding is exactly what dicked over TN and the Carolina’s right now.
Anonymous · October 1, 2024 at 7:02 pm
“There are disasters everywhere.”
Maybe, but if you run a bush hog around your house, and build in a swale, you are immune to almost all of them. Wildfires, meh. Hailstorms, meh. Wind, meh. Etc. Once in 500 or 1000 year some tornado will come through in exactly the wrong location, maybe. And, yet, insurance premiums do not reflect that negligible risk. Instead, they shift the risk of living in a floodplain onto those who are too prudent to put themselves at that risk.
When my parents bought a place in western SD, they asked one of the old timers about risks, and as a result of landslides in the 1920s, chose to site their house out of floodplain and well out of landslides. And made us kids keep the grass mowed.
And of the “disasters” that pushed up their insurance, every single one was eliminated by their prudent choices…
Divemedic · October 1, 2024 at 7:18 pm
Then why do you have insurance?
Skeptic · September 30, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Aesop is in no way, shape, or form a freedom advocate and should never be taken seriously as such. Few people, left or right, went as all-in on the Covidiocy as he did. Once exposed, always exposed.
Dan D. · September 30, 2024 at 1:43 pm
An age old issue, thus Commandment #10. Or as my high school teacher taught me 40 years ago: fair is not equal.
Tree Mike · September 30, 2024 at 2:53 pm
You have an entertaining, informative site, even dumbassholes are are attracted to it. Not JUST stellar midwits like me! I have no idea what yer numbers are, but I’ll bet they’re pretty good.
Rick T · September 30, 2024 at 4:28 pm
I think a lot of responders forgot (or never knew) that ‘homeowners insurance’ isn’t one thing, it is 50 different things thanks to state Insurance Commissions AND each home has a different policy and premium based on the specific facts for that specific home and site. Building home on a floodplain? Slab on grade construction is cheap, but building one on piles above the flood line is survivable (and may have lower premiums). If you can get insurance know that the company issuing the policy set your premium to give them as much profit as the state regulator will allow.
wojtek · September 30, 2024 at 7:56 pm
So either you support people doing risky things and still expecting same kind of community support, or you are against freedom? 🙂 Isn’t it what they call a false alternative?
In reality, there is no such thing as freedom to do what you want. Usually physics gets in the way.
Also in reality, as long as more than one person is involved, at least one person will experience that there is no such thing as freedom to do what you can (or, perhaps more precisely, what you potentially could do).
On the other hand, there is no such thing as full slavery, because – although we all are slaves of physics, chemistry and largely biology (this last one I am guessing – I am not entirely sure what biology really is, never seen a good enough definition 🙂 ) – still some people have more freedoms than others.
So the black and white scenarios are all out of the way even before we begin this intellectual exercise, and we’re navigating what’s left of the grayscale. So – in my humble opinion – the only reasonable way to judge people is by looking at the direction of the resultant vector of changes they expect or propose. Are they generally pursuing light, or darkness? But it has to be done summarily – you can’t do this based on any single example.
Anonymous · October 1, 2024 at 11:12 am
Everybody except libertarians believe people should be forced to comply with their own way of life. Only the subject matter area differs; one wants to centrally plan speech, another firefighting service. Poll the adults of any town large enough to have separate buildings for the public service agencies, and you’ll find somebody who wants to centrally plan anything. Democracy is Communism; the means are the same, the end goal is the same. The difference is where you start on the exponential growth curve leading to the genocides in China, Russia, and Germany.
Divemedic · October 1, 2024 at 12:17 pm
What many call libertarian is actually anarchy. A certain amount of government is necessary and proper. The anarchist/libertarian theory is simply unworkable, as it relies upon the same nonexistent human trait- the idea that people will work for the common good. I blogged about this more than 14 years ago.
To use one of your examples- firefighting. There is no workable way for firefighting to happen as a private enterprise. It’s been tried, and it plainly doesn’t work. Things that the government does is not a synonym for communism. it costs more to run a fire department than can be raised through the collection of firefighting fees. Firefighting is the sharing of a risk pool- the risk of any single house catching fire is small, but real.
It costs about $2 million a year to run a full time, paid firehouse, with staffing and equipment. Let’s say that in this station’s area, there is one house fire per month. That one house fire effectively costs $167,000 to extinguish. No one is going to pay that, so it’s not cost effective to run as a business.
The only way for a fire department to exist, is that every homeowner in the area pays a fee to be serviced by that department.
Steve · October 1, 2024 at 7:11 pm
“To use one of your examples- firefighting. There is no workable way for firefighting to happen as a private enterprise.”
That’s just silly. Most of my life, local firefighting has been volunteer fire departments.
Divemedic · October 1, 2024 at 7:19 pm
And where do the funds for the firetrucks, fuel, equipment, and insurance come from?
Do you really think that the only expense of fire departments is the cost of labor?
Steve · October 2, 2024 at 11:18 am
Can’t speak for all of them, but in my current case, the fire department drives around in August and asks for a contribution if you haven’t given in the last year. I usually give earlier in the year, but they still come by to get a feel for what would be involved if a fire happened in my house or outbuildings.
Anonymous · October 2, 2024 at 1:30 am
There are about 3,000 counties in the continental US. How about government apologists pick ten of them to retreat from, and allow libertarians to demonstrate to the world how awful their ideas are?
We all know what will happen. It will instantly become a tax haven; manufacturer of drugs of abuse, normal medicines, and weapons; vacation destination for sex tourism and gambling; haven for trade; new wikileaks, new legal dispute resolution jurisdiction, new banking center. It will become a new Hong Kong, perhaps even a new Venice. It will become very, very rich from all the high-end manufacturing and trade that normal people will do. The Surgery Center of Oklahoma (surgerycenterok.com) opened with surgeons from the local hospitals, charging about 20% of the hospital total cost. If costs are cut by 80% then insurance premiums can also drop by 80%. Instantly healthcare becomes affordable. But Obamacare blocked the expansion of, or creation of new, doctor-owned hospitals. The Soviet Union could not allow its population to see the lifestyle that free enterprise in grocery stores produces, because they will learn their political-economic system is junk. Neither can the Former USA.
Divemedic · October 2, 2024 at 6:13 am
Hahaha. Dream on. You want to start your libertarian paradise by forcing people to leave their homes and give them to you.
What happens if not everyone who lives in that county wants to live under your system? Do you force them to do so?
Anonymous · October 2, 2024 at 1:01 pm
> What happens if not everyone who lives in that county wants to live under your system? Do you force them to do so?
Straw man. The libertarian system is uniquely, by definition, the system where innocents aren’t forced. I didn’t say force the residents out, I said the residents stop forcing me; there’s plenty of government-owned land in the West. The residents will remain perfectly free to continue buying from the existing power, water, and sewer companies. But retirees who expect to magically collect from the SS Ponzi despite the baby boom retiring and the math not working, get nothing and have to go back to work. They’re already going to get nothing because the math doesn’t work; that’s unavoidable. But I’m stating up front there won’t be further damage to innocents in the cause of pretending.
Beans · October 1, 2024 at 1:19 pm
What’s funny about people who bitch about hurricanes hitting the South, and they usually point the finger at Florida, is that most of the damage is in non-Florida, like Tennessee, the Carolinas, New York Fn City…
And those that scream the loudest about fed aid to hurricane victims are usually the first to line up when there’s a blizzard (that hit far more often than hurricanes) or power outages caused by trees not being cleared from the lines and such.
Florida actually is probably one of the best places to get hit by a hurricane. As long as you’re living above the storm surge, the building codes pretty much require new houses to be pretty much storm resistant. And the power transmission and distribution system is hardened and is required to be cleared of potential vegetation issues, albeit some places do it better than others.
Yet every year I hear about the same exact placed up north Yankee way losing power for 2-4 weeks per storm from trees… falling on power lines. And people dying of heat waves or blizzards.
Or out west from drought or fire storms or blizzards or avalanches or flash floods.
Get over it. Nature happens.
Miguel GFZ · October 3, 2024 at 8:30 am
The proposal: “You must live where the chance of natural disasters is minimal.”
That would mean live in a place where hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires are very very unlikely to happen.
Got it!
New York City!
OK, you folks that think like that, I want to see you move within 6 months.
Me? I took hurricanes for 25 years and now dealing with floods and tornados.
Not living in NYC or Boston or none of those “safe” locations.
Comments are closed.