Insurers balk at insuring Portland businesses; exclude future damage related to civil unrest
[Buck Throckmorton]

Do you remember a few months ago during the peak of the BLM/Antifa rioting when Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) were either silent about the violence, or they actually praised property destruction and looting? As for the lives and businesses destroyed, they just dismissed the damage as harmless because “insurance will pay for it.”

NPR actually spent your tax dollars to advocate for looting, publicizing Vicky Osterweil’s book “In Defense Of Looting” and effectively endorsing the book with its tongue-bath of an interview.

You’ll never guess what happened next.

Insurers balk at covering Portland businesses; Brokers say downtown upheaval has made carriers wary

“So earlier this month, Murfitt settled for a policy that nearly quadrupled his premium, had a significantly higher deductible, included a much smaller cap on coverage related to robbery and excluded any property damage related to civil unrest.”

So to get insurance at all now, these small business owners face crippling rate hikes, and the next round of Democrat-endorsed looting won’t even be insured, because “civil unrest” is excluded. Our Democrat and media elite genuinely had no idea about the actuarial risk that determines insurance availability and pricing. They just assumed insurance is like electricity - another routine bill for a service that is universally available.

Another revelation of the media’s “but the shop owners have insurance” defense of rioting was their total lack of understanding about how property insurance works. The MSM and Democrats spoke of property insurance as if it’s a million-dollar life insurance policy on a loved one. Sure, you’re distraught about your loss, but at least you’re rich now! They clearly didn’t understand deductibles, uncovered damage, lost revenue, and future loss of business due to operating in a war zone.

The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle is supposed to be an intellectual who is so smart she is beyond partisanship. To her credit she bravely broke with the rest of the Washington press corps and dared to criticize those who defended looting. But in her very next tweet she showed that she believes property insurance to be “some kind of magic that makes all problems disappear.”

No. Insurance is not “some kind of magic that makes all problems disappear”, even if you’re “in the world of the upper middle class.” Nor is it a lottery ticket that will leave you rich if you make a claim.

My heart breaks for all the shopkeepers whose businesses were destroyed in the riots. As for those pro-rioting leftists who repeated the mantra “but it’s insured”, may they enjoy a lifetime full of property damage claims on every asset they own or hold dear. They may not be richer for it, but they’ll certainly be wiser.

More [ace]: Who wouldn't want to insure this?

The leftwing will soon be forcing the American taxpayer to act as insurers for these pro-anarchic violence blue cities.

They will claim that this is no different than offering subsidies for home insurance to those who live near rivers prone to flooding.

They will overlook that the fact that these cities are run by leftwing Democrat governments which are in bed with antifa and BLM and tolerate anarchic violence rather than punishing it.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:36 PM

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