[SUBMITTED] Gone With the Flood

[Verdant Haven]

As I'm sure anybody from a flood-prone area knows, Flood Insurance can be a total beast to acquire. It's so bad, there are frequent rumors that some people who are victims of flooding will illicitly burn their house down, since insurance readily covers fire damage, but not water. At any rate, I decided to take a look at the Insurance Industry with special attention to flooding.

This wasn't originally going to be a Gone With the Wind reference stack (It started as the very different "There Will Be Flood"), but the lines just seemed to work too well to ignore, hence that.

[TITLE] Gone With the Flood

[DESCRIPTION] After an historically bad storm caused flooding on a previously unseen scale, insurance companies in @@NAME@@ have been doing their best to escape making payments. In fact, many policy holders have been shocked to find that flooding is specifically excluded in the fine print of their homeowner policies. Anger has boiled over on to the streets as hundreds of newly-homeless @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ demand action.

[VALIDITY] Must allow private industry. Has not chosen options 331.3 or 331.4


[CHOICE 1] "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" bawls @@RANDOMFEMALEFIRSTNAME@@ O'Hara, owner of a now mud-filled plantation house. "Can't you make those nasty insurers pay for the damages? They ought not to be allowed to exclude things from policies like that!

[FALLOUT 1] the only people who can afford insurance are those who can afford not to have it


[CHOICE 2] "Seems like those insurance companies just don't have the resources to handle these big events all by their lonesome" muses your social secretary, @@RANDOMNAME@@, absent-mindedly. "The government's got lots of money though, so why don't you underwrite flood insurance for everybody? It'll cost an arm and a leg, but they'll never go homeless again!"

[FALLOUT 2] insurance companies remove items from policies in the hopes of government payouts


[CHOICE 3] "Frankly, my dear, we should build a dam" suggests your overly-familiar butler, Rhett, as he busies himself rearranging the civil engineering books on your shelf. "If we can limit the risk of flood, insurers will be more willing to offer affordable policies! You should provide citizens aid this time, but only on the condition that they work with insurers to meet the rebuilding requirements needed to qualify for insurance coverage in the future."

[FALLOUT 3] houses sit on enormous stilts along the levy-lined shores of @@NAME@@


[CHOICE 4] [VALIDITY] Not officially atheist
"Usury! Usury! Usury!" comes the raspy chant of @@RANDOMNAME@@, also known as the Voice of Violet. "Insurance is usury! It is gambling on the uncertainty of tomorrow, but the sacred Violet tells us that tomorrow is another day! Ban insurance, and all forms of usury! What Violet hath wrought we must not question."

[FALLOUT 4] with no mortgages for houses there is no market for homeowners insurance

1st draft:

As I'm sure anybody from a flood-prone area knows, Flood Insurance can be a total beast to acquire. It's so bad, there are frequent rumors that some people who are victims of flooding will illicitly burn their house down, since insurance readily covers fire damage, but not water. At any rate, I decided to take a look at the Insurance Industry with special attention to flooding.

This wasn't originally going to be a Gone With the Wind reference stack (It started as the very different "There Will Be Flood"), but the lines just seemed to work too well to ignore, hence that.

[TITLE] Gone With the Flood

[DESCRIPTION] After an historically bad storm caused flooding on a previously unseen scale, insurance companies in @@NAME@@ have been doing their best to escape making payments. In fact, many policy holders have been shocked to find that flooding is specifically excluded in the fine print of their homeowner policies. Anger has boiled over on to the streets as hundreds of newly-homeless @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ demand action.

[VALIDITY] Must allow private industry


[CHOICE 1] "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" bawls @@RANDOMFEMALEFIRSTNAME@@ O'Hara, owner of a now mud-filled plantation house. "Can't you make those nasty insurers pay for the damages? They ought not to be allowed to exclude things from policies like that!

[FALLOUT 1] the only people who can afford insurance are those who can afford not to have it


[CHOICE 2] "Seems like those insurance companies just don't have the resources to handle these big events all by their lonesome" muses your secretary, @@RANDOMNAME@@, absent-mindedly. "The government's got lots of money though, so why don't you underwrite flood insurance for everybody? They'll never go homeless again!"

[FALLOUT 2] insurance companies remove items from policies in the hopes of government payouts


[CHOICE 3] "Frankly, my dear, we should build a dam" suggests your mother, as she busies herself rearranging the civil engineering books on your shelf. "If we can't control the waters, this will just keep happening! Provide aid this time, but then work with the insurers to figure out what kind of requirements they'd have for rebuilding, to make sure they're willing to offer affordable flood insurance"

[FALLOUT 3] houses sit on enormous stilts along the levy-lined shores of @@NAME@@


[CHOICE 4] "Usury! Usury! Usury!" comes the raspy chant of @@RANDOMNAME@@, also known as the Voice of Violet. "Insurance is usury! It is gambling on the uncertainty of tomorrow, but the sacred Violet tells us that tomorrow is another day! Ban insurance, and all forms of usury! What Violet hath wrought we must not question."

[FALLOUT 4] with no mortgages for houses there is no market for homeowners insurance

[Trotterdam]

[CHOICE 3] "Frankly, my dear, we should build a dam" suggests your mother, as she busies herself rearranging the civil engineering books on your shelf. "If we can't control the waters, this will just keep happening! Provide aid this time, but then work with the insurers to figure out what kind of requirements they'd have for rebuilding, to make sure they're willing to offer affordable flood insurance"

[FALLOUT 3] houses sit on enormous stilts along the levy-lined shores of @@NAME@@

...Huh? This option makes a U-turn halfway through. Providing aid and working with insurers to design the new buildings have nothing to do with building dams. Also, dams and stilts seems a little redundant, though I guess that's the joke.

Of course, some of the worst floods in history have been the result of dams bursting.

[CHOICE 4] "Usury! Usury! Usury!" comes the raspy chant of @@RANDOMNAME@@, also known as the Voice of Violet. "Insurance is usury! It is gambling on the uncertainty of tomorrow, but the sacred Violet tells us that tomorrow is another day! Ban insurance, and all forms of usury! What Violet hath wrought we must not question."

[FALLOUT 4] with no mortgages for houses there is no market for homeowners insurance

...That's not what usury means. In fact, it's kind of the opposite. Usury is when I give you money, and then you have to give me back more later. Insurance is when you give me money now, and I'll on average give you back less than that later (but with a chance of it being more if you're unlucky).

[Australian rePublic]

Option 2- then why bother paying for insurance

[Verdant Haven]

[CHOICE 4] "Usury! Usury! Usury!" comes the raspy chant of @@RANDOMNAME@@, also known as the Voice of Violet. "Insurance is usury! It is gambling on the uncertainty of tomorrow, but the sacred Violet tells us that tomorrow is another day! Ban insurance, and all forms of usury! What Violet hath wrought we must not question."

[FALLOUT 4] with no mortgages for houses there is no market for homeowners insurance

...That's not what usury means. In fact, it's kind of the opposite. Usury is when I give you money, and then you have to give me back more later. Insurance is when you give me money now, and I'll on average give you back less than that later (but with a chance of it being more if you're unlucky).

Actually, usury is defined differently in different religions (which are distinct from the legal definition). Islamic scholars largely consider conventional insurance to be riba, which translates most readily as "usury" - unjust financial gains. The more strict concept that focuses only on moneylending for profit is a Christianity-centric view not shared by all.

[Verdant Haven]

Option 2- then why bother paying for insurance

This is actually what the US Government does in some areas. The government underwrites the National Flood Insurance Program, available to people in flood areas. It's not free by any means, they still have to pay for it - it's just that the government is the provider since it can take a risk the companies are unwilling to.

It isn't without controversy. At the moment, it's possible the program could end this month, unless action is taken to save it. Nobody's quite sure yet what will happen, but it's the only way many people can get flood insurance, so it certainly will have pressure behind it to be passed.

[Bears Armed]

You might need to consider this:

#331: Swept Away [Mostly armless; ed:Dustistan]

The Issue
Unusually heavy rainfall this week burst riverbanks and caused flash flooding in @@NAME@@'s low-lying areas. This has sparked much debate on how the state should deal with flood damage.

The Debate
1. "We need help to recover from this horrible flood!" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a resident of the flooded zone, trying to stop his hands from shaking. "I've lost everything: my house, cars, yacht. There was no time to recover anything before it was swept away. The government should compensate us for our losses. It wasn't our idea to can the dam project, after all, and if I get no help I'll be without a roof to live under.

2. "At the end of the day, they chose to live in a flood plain. Why should the government pay anything at all to these half-brained idiots?" rants @@RANDOMNAME@@, a prominent campaigner for lower government spending. "If they want money when there's a flood, they should get insurance and hang the expense. Make them bear the costs of their own lunacy. You don't see ME whining about the whippersnappers that broke one of my windows last fall. Why? Because I paid for insurance!"

3. "These floods should never have happened in the first place," states @@RANDOMNAME@@, a noted architect, with an excited glint in her eye. "They've caused widespread destruction and damage; the repairs will cost millions of @@CURRENCY@@, and this doesn't count the millions more people are asking in compensation. What I propose is that the government invest heavily in massive flood defenses. Dams! Levees! Floodways! Dikes! Dams! Gates! Wall off the seas and lakes! Put flood gates on every river! No, dam them all up! Then build more dams! We'll have no more floods in @@NAME@@!"

4. "You know what? Why don't we use the cheap, easy solution to stop this problem?" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, floating past on a makeshift raft. "Just stop people from building on flood plains. If you're not in a floodable area, you can't get flooded. Who's going to complain? A bunch of real-estate developers? Please! Even the environmentalists will be happy, because the land will become some kind of nature reserve."

[Trotterdam]

Actually, usury is defined differently in different religions (which are distinct from the legal definition). Islamic scholars largely consider conventional insurance to be riba, which translates most readily as "usury" - unjust financial gains. The more strict concept that focuses only on moneylending for profit is a Christianity-centric view not shared by all.

The English word "usury" is not tied to any particular religion. It originates from a Latin word that simply meant "interest on a loan" before people started having any problems with that. It's only due to extensive campaigning by Christians that the word gained negative connotations.

I do not speak Arabic and cannot vouch for the meaning of "riba", but if it means something other than charging interest, then "usury" is an inaccurate translation (even if the law still stems from the same general spirit).

[Verdant Haven]

You might need to consider this:

#331: Swept Away [Mostly armless; ed:Dustistan]
--snip--

Ugh. I swear I dug through the issue piles extensively, but I didn't hit this somehow. Thank you for the heads-up.

I'll keep the issue, but will go on another quest and find a different reason for the insurance to be the subject of discussion. It's still distinct in that this is focused on insurance, whereas that is focused on flooding, but there's enough overlap I think I need a rework.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I think the overlap is minimal. Both feature floods, but have different emphases.

[Bears Armed]

I think the overlap is minimal. Both feature floods, but have different emphases.

I do realize that there's not much overlap, I just though that receiving an issue with people complaining that they couldn't get insurance about floods might seem a bit odd to any player who'd already had the earlier issue (and maybe chosen the relevant option) with somebody talking about how they had had that insurance.

[Verdant Haven]

I really do want to keep this as flooding, but looking at the issue mentioned by Bears Armed, I agree that it is at least partly problematic. Would it be possible to run a validity as Has not chosen options 331.3 or 331.4? That would keep people who either previously built flood controls or banned construction in flood planes from getting this one.

I've put up a new draft, with modifications to some of the options to provide a bit more emphasis and clarity on the insurance situation in each.

[Verdant Haven]

I'm continuing to look for feedback on this one. I've tweaked some of the options here - any thoughts on this latest version?

[Bears Armed]

"Frankly, my dear, we should build a dam"

Love it!

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Oh wow, I totally missed that joke. Maybe for idiots like me you could make it less subtle, replacing the speaker with "your butler, Rhett"

[Verdant Haven]

Every one of them has a Gone With the Wind quote :-D

I did want to work Rhett Butler's name in there somehow, but my main issue is that there aren't many people who could get away with calling @@LEADER@@ "my dear." I suppose I could refer to it as "Your overly-familiar Butler, Rhett." Do you think that would be better than mom here?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I like that!

[Verdant Haven]

Done!

Any thoughts on the rest?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Looks good.

[Verdant Haven]

Alright - with limited other commentary inbound, and having been up for a fair while, I'm going to put this one on Last Call! Barring major modifications/inputs, I'll submit it later this week.

[Verdant Haven]

Submitted! Thank you to everybody for the suggestions and guidance.

[Bears Armed]

Good luck!

[Jutsa]

Indubitably! Good luck, though I doubt you'd need it.

[Australian rePublic]

Good Luck