Folks, who wudda thunk that a blog that cut its teeth bashing all things State Farm would make friends in the enemy camp so I have a secret to share: I’ve occasionally collaborated with Deb over at Dimechimes Claims Adjuster Information beginning with the Gulf oil spill, which impacted her home State of Florida. The association has added a some color to my perceptions of the operation of GCCF, which I hope to share soon here on Slabbed.
Along those lines I’ll add that there is a newish local WordPress blog that I subscribe to and that is the one belonging to Ignatius Jeff Riley. I warned Ignatius that me mentioning his blog on Slabbed could well put a target on his back but he continues undaunted.
Seemingly completely unrelated is a story Anita Lee recently wrote an article for the Sun Herald on an insurance industry trade group bemoaning the fact Mississippi does not have a state-wide building code. Yes, we are wire tight down here in South Mississippi on that issue but the fact the rest of the state doesn’t have a uniform building code supposedly causes high insurance rates according to experts like Jimbo the Clown, from whom Anita snagged a talking point. Anita’s readers including ol’ Sop buyeth not into the insurance industry propaganda judging from reader comments left on her story but I thought the story served a useful purpose.
That said a uniform building code creates a level competitive playing field for homebuilders so there are some very sound reasons for having one beyond the talking points of insurance trade groups and their lawn politicians like Jimbo, despite the opposition of certain unenlightened north Mississippi legislators.
Speaking of north Mississippi, normally it is those folks that assert they somehow subsidize the coast via the Windpool, which can levy statewide assessments to address solvency issues of the type Louisiana Citizens has right now thanks to ineptitude in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve found most folks do not have a grasp of the complexity of the issues involved in the rape of coastal policyholders by multinational insurers with an anti trust exemption but suffice it to say they subsidize no one and in fact in Mississippi the opposite is true due in large part to poor risk management practices such as not requiring a uniform mandatory building code.
So WTF does Louisiana Citizens have to do with a lack of mandatory building codes off the coast? Mainly because in the aftermath of Katrina when the legislature redid the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association they used Louisiana Citizens as the template. Shortly after the remodel here in Mississippi Louisiana based Citizens was rocked by a major criminal scandal (due to the built-in lack of transparency IMHO) and now it is insolvent as speculation as to the amount of statewide policy assessment needed to keep it afloat grows.
So what does Deb at Dimechimes and Ignatius Riley have to do with this? Both wrote posts on the latest Louisiana Citizens Jackassery that are well worth reading. So, if you want to read what Sop is reading click below.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/02/09/3743553/lack-of-building-code-inflates.html
sop