TELL OUR YANKEE FRIENDS TO BUTT OUT!

Thursday, September 28th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

TELL 

OUR YANKEE FRIENDS TO BUTT OUT!

Our friends up north need to let it go.  According to a cross section of northern commentators, the Second Reconstruction may be over, but they think a third one may be necessary. 

Consider the Washington Post’s take in an Op Ed by their columnist Harold Meyerson. He suggests that, “Underpinning all this was the virulent racism of the white Southern establishment.”  But he’s just warming up.  He goes on to say: “If the federal government wants to build a fence that keeps the United States safe from the danger of lower wages and poverty and their attendant ills – and the all around fruitcakery of the right wing white South – it should build the fence from Norfolk to Dallas. There is nothing wrong with the fence as long as you put it in the right place.”

When you refer to Southerners as fruitcakes, and suggest a border to keep them in their place, it reflects a weird desire for sectionalism, and a long tired grudge to keep re-fighting the Civil War. Look, we down here acknowledge that the South lost the war.  Oh, it was close, and bull-headed politicians on both sides caused over one million solders to die.  But that was then, and most of the South has let it go. But it appears that many in the North still have trouble with it.

Sure there are racial issues to deal with.  Remember the racial breakdown in the O.J. Simpson trial out in California?   Polls showed it to be 90-10.  Overwhelmingly, whites thought Simpson was guilty. Over 90% of African-Americans believed he was innocent.  I can remember watching split TV screens showing African-American groups cheering, and rooms full of whites shaking their heads in disgust.  Racial issues and unrest are still realities all over America.

As I travel throughout the country, I’m still somewhat surprised by the stereotypes of southern living held by a good number of those folks living above the Mason-Dixon Line.  Oh, we have our share of Good Ole’ Boys, and I do tell my share of redneck jokes. I miss George Jones, I like country music, and I do drink Dixie Beer.  But the South is not all Bubbas and banjos.  Well, all right, I do play the banjo and my doctor’s name is Bubba. But a number of northern opinions reflect the South as being outside what is considered to be the American norm.

Many non-southerners form an opinion of the whole south from movie stereotypes like Steel Magnolias, Sweet Home Alabama, and The Help.  TV hits like the Dukes of Hazard, Mayberry, and The Beverly Hillbillies created impressions that will stick with viewers from Boston to San Francisco for a lifetime.  And who can forget Deliverance?  There’s a great deal of nostalgia about an earlier way of southern life and romantic notions about southern life today. Sure we love to watch and re-watch Gone with the Wind.  But so do millions, not just all over the U.S., but also all over the world.

Numerous writers migrated to New Orleans to find their creative juices.  Tennessee Williams, Robert Penn Warren, Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Ernest Hemingway, to name a few. Food?  You can have New York and San Francisco.  I’ll take Emeril Lagasse, John Besh and a host of other Southern restaurateurs any day. And at half the northern price. Maybe, just maybe, there is some envy about a culture that seems to produce an inordinate number of “rednecks” that are talented, creative, and so successful that it puts the rest of the country to shame.

Jazz, the blues and country music were born in the South.  Did you know that America’s first opera house was in the New Orleans French Quarter?  And what about American patriotism and commitment?  47% of all the U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan were from the South.

Not only can the South be eloquently defended, there’s a case to be made for southern exceptionalism.  

Sure there are continuing problems to be worked out, just as there are all over America. And maybe there is a case for reconstruction.  Not because the south wants to “rise again.”  No, it’s a reconstruction of bigoted and outdated northern attitudes that have held both north and south back for many years. You folks up north take care of your “fruitcake” comments, and we’ll do our best to handle Paula Dean. Oh, but can you pass on the grits and biscuits?

*******

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA: NIGHT AND DAY ON PROPERTY INSURANCE!

Thursday, September 21st, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA:

NIGHT AND DAY ON PROPERTY INSURANCE!

With major hurricanes recently hitting Florida and Texas, and since some parts of Louisiana are still cleaning up after last year’s torrential rains, many property owners in the Bayou State are asking if insurance rates will go up.  Will rates go up?  Is the Pope Catholic?  Does Grizzly Adams have a beard?  Of course we all will be paying more.

That’s not how the system is supposed to work. The legislature and the Insurance Department ballyhooed a concept called “modeling,” supposedly to require proper savings that would be available when a major storm hit the state.  Kind of like putting aside money on a regular basis for your kid’s college fund.

But many insurance companies operating in Louisiana always invoke the old adage: “Never let a crisis go to waste.”  You can take it to the books that a number of insurance companies will raise their rates on property owners in the months to come.

Louisiana could take a page of advice from Florida insurance officials.  And for good reason. Florida has significantly more hurricane exposure than does Louisiana.  Ninety percent of all homeowners live within a few miles of the Gulf or the Atlantic Ocean.  A hurricane crossing the Florida peninsula slows down, at best, only 15 miles per hour.  Yet in spite of all this exposure, property insurance rates are cheaper in Florida than in Louisiana. 

In Perdido Key, on the Florida-Alabama border, many Louisianans have beach homes or condos.  On average, they pay significantly less on these properties than they do on their homes in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other Louisiana cities. Property insurance rates for commercial real estate have gone down, somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% to 40%, according realtor Steve Ekovich of the Tampa office of Marcus & Millichap.

Florida officials, from the Governor on down, have made insurance affordability a front burner issue.  In Louisiana, it has been little more than a blip on the radar. Like Louisiana, Florida has a Citizens Property Insurance Company that is state created and sells to those homeowners who cannot find insurance anywhere else.  The difference is in legislative support.  From day one, the Florida Company has received state funds on a regular basis to build up reserves.  By properly managing the company, Florida Citizens has almost $ 7.4 billion in cash in the bank to pay claims according to this week’s Wall Street Journal.  There is also in place a bank line of credit and proceeds from municipal bonds that put total available funds at close to $10 billion.

Florida has also created a Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to back up and reinsurance losses for both Citizens and other private insurance companies operating in the state.   Citizens purchased this year nearly $9.8 billion in coverage. So all told, the Florida state created company has the ability to handle claims of up to $16.8 billion. 

So how does Louisiana stack up?  Well, for starters, due to inept and corrupt management before Hurricne Katrina hit, no back up funds were  arranged, and Katrina and Rita claims now exceed well over $1 billion. Look up at the right hand corner of your insurace policy and you will see a surcharge all property owners pay because of the state’s mismanagement.  No other state pays such a surcharge.

There was only minor reinsurance in place when the two major storms hit in 2005. Then the state run company was  tagged with a $95 million legal judgment for failing to pay claims on time, and the former CEO for misappropriating  for his personal use hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is no wonder why the company, created by the legislature and overseen by the Insurance Department, has been called the biggest financial disaster in Louisiana history.

Has Florida solved its property insurance problems?  Hardly.  Increasing costs and continuing hurricane exposure make any effort to control insurance rates all the more challenging.  The difference between Florida and Louisiana is one of effort and priorities.  The Florida Insurance Commissioner is lobbying hard for a national catastrophic program for gulf coast states.  Florida congressmen are pushing a number of programs in Washington.  

It won’t be easy, but there seems to be a major good faith effort by Florida officials to keep affordable insurance front and center.  In Louisiana, property insurance issues have faded away and are barely a blip on the perennial screen, with little comment or concern expressed by any public official. So is it any wonder why Louisiana property owners continue to pay the highest rates in the nation? 

*******

“It’s not hurricanes that are causing high insurance rates, but bad government policy,”

Policy analyst Michelle Minton

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

SHOULD YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE?

Thursday, September 14th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

SHOULD YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE?

We pride ourselves as Americans in our lifestyle choices. The right to freedom of choice, protecting our individual assertion of free will, and deciding just how we want to live our lives. And yes, we have the right to excess. You can live a gluttonous life by overindulging in many personal hazards.

You know smoking causes lung cancer, but making a personal decision to smoke is your right. Drinking in access leads to a number of health concerns, but that’s your choice. Obesity by overeating? Not good, but no law can legally restrain your decision to carry too much weight. You can live where your want, and do what you want with few limitations.

That is, up until you want to shut things down and end your life. In the vast majority of states, that’s when the government takes over. You have the right to decide how you live, but you do not have the same right to decide, at least legally, when you want to end your life. Should you have such a right?

Six states (Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Vermont and Montana) say “yes,” and they’ve passed legislation where a patient can ask a doctor for medication to end life. Under these “physician assisted suicide” or “death with dignity laws,” as they are known, there are strict requirements as to the patient’s condition that must be met before these laws can be applied

In the rest of America, death is delayed with small concern for the costs in terms of pain and suffering, not to mention, as is often the case, of economic hardship to the family and the taxpayer. Families stand by watching over loved ones who are force fed through tubes, and often kept alive by a number of artificial means. Instead of death taking its natural course at its humane end stage, modern medicine seems to make death almost optional.

In the debate over life ending care, a notable event took place recently. In Phoenix, a husband was convicted of shooting his wife who suffered terribly with final stage multiple sclerosis, and who would have required extensive amputations because of gangrene in order to keep her alive. She had begged for months to end her life. Her 86-year-old husband finally honored her wishes and shot her to end her misery. “Your honor,” the husband addressed the judge, “I loved Ginger since she was fifteen years old and I loved her when she was 81 years old. She begged me to end her misery, and I just couldn’t watch her suffer like that.” A jury convicted him of manslaughter, but the judge, with almost unanimous family and community support, sentenced him to probation.

I would hope that at the end of my life, I would have the right to make my own choice. I am not afraid of facing finality. Death will come. But there will be quality of life issues that all of us will face. And there will be a quality of living that will deteriorate and be tempered by both the effort and the ability to deal with both the physical wear and tear and the emotional costs. You see, from my perspective, there is a real difference between life and living.

But the system fights to keep you alive regardless of the quality of life. If it takes feeding tubes, ventilators, not having any control over basic bodily functions and dealing with bedsores that will never heal because you will never leave the bed, so be it. But once this process begins, it rarely ends — until you come to an end.

When I was 70, I wrote that “If there is a yin and a yang, the before and the after, what has happened and what is yet to be, then maybe getting older is a special way post for me. Hey, I could be at the top and ready for the long and relaxing ride back down.”

I’m still on that great ride. But one day, it’s going to come to an end. I just hope I will be able to set my own timelines, and make my own life and, yes, death choices on my own with out dictates from the government. Yes, I want the freedom of choice. In both living and dying.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT RISING FLOOD INSURANCE RATES?

September 7th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 WHAT TO DO ABOUT RISING FLOOD INSURANCE RATES?

Hurricane Harvey has caused property owners along the Gulf and East Coasts to panic over projections of outrageous property flood insurance rates that, in some cases, could lead to increases of greater than 1000 per cent. Is there really a problem finding affordable flood insurance along America’s coasts? Yes, and a growing one.

The current national flood insurance program has been around since 1968.  Actually, it was created not so much because of hurricane damage, but due to widespread flooding along the Mississippi River in the early 1960s.  More and more levees were built up and down the river, which created major flooding in unprotected areas.  Private insurance companies could not handle the damage claims so the federal government stepped in. The program was extended to cover hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast, and if a homeowner didn’t get flood insurance, they were unable to get their home financed.

A year ago, Congress reauthorized the national flood insurance program through 2017.  But in the process, a number of changes were made to make the program more financially sound. The new program caused rates to skyrocket along the Gulf Coast.

How do we begin to solve the affordability problem?  First of all, we need to recognize how vast this exposure for national disasters has become. I live in hurricane alley, and we all understand that hurricanes are a major part of the puzzle to be solved.  Hurricane Sandy, which devastated coastlines of New York and New Jersey, show that this is not just a regional problem. All coastlines are at risk. Over half of all Americans live within 100 miles of the coast.

But hurricane protection is just one part of the problem.  Torrential rains in the Midwest have unleashed a wave of damage that is wiping out thousands of homes.  Without flood insurance, they are out of luck.  And what about wildfires out west?  Wildfires are a rampant and growing problem that needs a national insurance response. Then there’s the massive destruction caused by tornados in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, and a host of other states.

Get my point?  Natural disasters happen all over America, and have increased way beyond the ability for state programs to be effective and affordable. So has any plan been proposed which is encompassing, and yet affordable for homeowners that doesn’t use taxpayer dollars?  Yes. Louisiana’s Insurance Department, during the time I served as Commissioner, took the lead back in 1995 by proposing a comprehensive plan that could assist property owners following disasters all across the country. The proposal called for a Natural Disaster Insurance Corporation (NDIC) that would sell disaster reinsurance for residential and commercial properties while also providing primary coverage for residential properties.

In making this proposal, I commented at the time that “if a major hurricane strikes New Orleans, it could put 26 feet of water in the downtown area and cause insurance losses greater than $26 billion.”  That’s right on the money as to what happened during Hurricane Katrina ten years later. I concluded by saying: “We are going to have a huge problem with catastrophic insurance losses all over America if we don’t get a national disaster program in place.”

I testified a few months later before a Senate panel in Washington on Senate Bill 1350.  Private insurance would take a small portion of its premiums and contribute to a state fund.  The state fund would then be backed up by a national fund.  The national fund could borrow to pay for any shortfall, but no federal tax dollars would be involved.  Each state could buy in and have a rate set according to the risk.  Hurricane prone states like Louisiana would pay more than a state like North Dakota that experiences much less in natural disaster damage. 

 The U.S. Senate adopted my proposal, but the legislation became hung up and died in the U.S. House of Representatives. That was the plan then. And the good news is that a number of states are coalescing around this same plan now following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, and now Harvey.

It’s taken almost 20 years, but it looks like it could be the right time for problem solving.  It’s just not a handout for the coastal states. The whole country will benefit. And at a price that’s affordable. We certainly cannot be any worse off than we are now.

*******

“Do you know what happens when you give a procrastinator a good idea? Nothing!”

Donald Gardner

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.