$50.5 Billion for Sandy relief

My opinion, which would probably not be popular, is to let the free market handle these things. If you want your house replaced when something bad happens, buy insurance. If nobody will insure a property because it's in a flood-prone area, then maybe it's not such a great idea to build there. Why should my tax dollars subsidize someone else's beach house?

Our mentality that government should take care of everything is breaking us. I can't wait until my generation (Generation X) gets old - most of us are not covered by pension plans like our parents.  Some of us have saved for retirement through 401(k) plans. Many others lease the most expensive car that they can, buy or rent the most expensive house they can, and don't save a dime for retirement (can't afford it after the cost of dining out, big screen TVs, and tattoos). How much you want to bet that the savers will have to bail out the spenders?

My opinion, which would probably not be popular, is to let the free market handle these things. If you want your house replaced when something bad happens, buy insurance. If nobody will insure a property because it's in a flood-prone area, then maybe it's not such a great idea to build there. Why should my tax dollars subsidize someone else's beach house?

Our mentality that government should take care of everything is breaking us. I can't wait until my generation (Generation X) gets old - most of us are not covered by pension plans like our parents.  Some of us have saved for retirement through 401(k) plans. Many others lease the most expensive car that they can, buy or rent the most expensive house they can, and don't save a dime for retirement (can't afford it after the cost of dining out, big screen TVs, and tattoos). How much you want to bet that the savers will have to bail out the spenders?

None of this is accurate.

Yes flood insurance is expensive depending on where you live. The deductible is up to you on what you want to carry, it can be 3% of the value of the house or a set number you decide on. It does not only cover basements, it covers the whole house, the contents, and will pay living expenses. 

As to the private market taking care of it. The issue is when a flood strikes it does too much damage for private companies to handle. Most flood insurance is written through the National Flood Insurance program which is funded by the fed gubment because the feds can afford it and no one else can. If one company covers 10 houses and one burns down, they can fix the one house. If one company covers 10 houses and a flood comes through the company goes bankrupt overnight and no one gets their house fixed. 

All that said. They originally asked for 60 billion to fix everything. 7 billion or so was to shore up the flood insurance program so they could pay claims. So everyone who had flood insurance was covered under that $7 billion. The rest is "infrastructure" and a heck of a lot of fluff. The original bill that passed was to shore up the flood insurance account which it did. This recent bill is a freakin pork sandwich of wasted money. 

Welcome to the dark side.  Be careful posting stuff like this because people might call you a fiscal conservative. 

From the you can't make this stuff up files.  The amount of new revenue generated by the increased taxes on the rich that passed a few weeks ago is estimated to be $40B in 2013.  Well we just spent $60B on Sandy.  These idiots just do not get it, we are on a path of financial destruction as a country but they just keep on spending and spending and spending.

The GAO released it's annual audit a couple weeks ago that concluded "Absent policy changes, the federal government continues to face an unsustainable fiscal path."  Translated, if we do not get spending under control the dollar is going to collapse and take our economy with it!!!  Yet, nobody on either side wants to cut ANYTHING, they just want to spend more and more and more.

No matter what my opinion is on Sandy relief it doesn't matter because we simply cannot afford it.  If we were financially responsible as a country then we could afford to do what's right when disaster strikes, but we do not have that luxury anymore in my humble opinion.

Government Flood Insurance tops out at $250k.  With most of these cases the Homeowner insurance won't cover these events because its caused by flood.  So, with most of these houses well over $250k these folks are SOL.

I agree why should I have to pay for your choice to live there and not to carry enough insurance.

I wonder if this is the original bill that had the earmarks for Amtrak, Forest Service and few other tag alongs that had nothing to do with Sandy.  But this gets no coverage. 

None of this is accurate.

Yes flood insurance is expensive depending on where you live. The deductible is up to you on what you want to carry, it can be 3% of the value of the house or a set number you decide on. It does not only cover basements, it covers the whole house, the contents, and will pay living expenses. 

As to the private market taking care of it. The issue is when a flood strikes it does too much damage for private companies to handle. Most flood insurance is written through the National Flood Insurance program which is funded by the fed gubment because the feds can afford it and no one else can. If one company covers 10 houses and one burns down, they can fix the one house. If one company covers 10 houses and a flood comes through the company goes bankrupt overnight and no one gets their house fixed. 

All that said. They originally asked for 60 billion to fix everything. 7 billion or so was to shore up the flood insurance program so they could pay claims. So everyone who had flood insurance was covered under that $7 billion. The rest is "infrastructure" and a heck of a lot of fluff. The original bill that passed was to shore up the flood insurance account which it did. This recent bill is a freakin pork sandwich of wasted money. 

This has only been going on for 100 years... I fail to see why I am still responsible for you living on the beach.

I live in Colorado... you know why... besides the awesome Rocky Mountains... there are no floods, no earthquakes, no tornadoes, and no hurricanes. If you CHOOSE to live in a place with all its beauty and rewards and KNOW you will have to rebuild every 5-10-15 years... then have fun with that. I choose not to... when will people start paying for my home.

This has only been going on for 100 years... I fail to see why I am still responsible for you living on the beach.

I live in Colorado... you know why... besides the awesome Rocky Mountains... there are no floods, no earthquakes, no tornadoes, and no hurricanes. If you CHOOSE to live in a place with all its beauty and rewards and KNOW you will have to rebuild every 5-10-15 years... then have fun with that. I choose not to... when will people start paying for my home.

This has only been going on for 100 years... I fail to see why I am still responsible for you living on the beach.

I live in Colorado... you know why... besides the awesome Rocky Mountains... there are no floods, no earthquakes, no tornadoes, and no hurricanes. If you CHOOSE to live in a place with all its beauty and rewards and KNOW you will have to rebuild every 5-10-15 years... then have fun with that. I choose not to... when will people start paying for my home.