Insurance Companies Believe In Climate Change Even If You Don’t
If you are looking for the canary in the coal mine of climate change, it isn’t sea levels, it is insurance premiums.
Yes, insurance premiums.
What we know about climate change or its old moniker, Global Warming, is that extreme weather events are going to become more intense and more frequent.
This isn’t some conspiracy, it is science. And it is getting more accurate. Better able to predict. And this is where insurance comes in.
Insurance is just gambling really. What are the chances of a certain demographic having X event happen to them.
How much would that cost and how much would a per month premium be if a company was to make a profit whilst still covering that group.
And so, an 18-year-old single man driving a car pays more for insurance than a married 30-year-old woman.
If scientists can better predict extreme weather events, then insurance companies can start pricing accordingly.
And they have.
Republicans Are Still Not Interested In Democracy
The Republicans are not interested in navel gazing after their crushing defeat at the hands of Obama, they are more interested in cheating their way back into power at the expense of democracy. As it was ever thus.
Conservatives forces have never been truly ‘ok’ with democracy. They talk a big game when it comes to ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty’ but there isn’t so much of a iota of democracy in those terms.
Every step of the way to a more democratic America, conservatives have fought hard to stop it.
Women, African Americans, and so on. Why let any of these groups vote at all? It’s against God’s will and so forth.
So it is no great surprise that making it easier for people to vote on election day is not high on the agenda of Republicans.
Single Parents Are Not Sinners Or Bludgers
I was raised by a single mother. So it has not been a great few weeks for me as I have watched my own party treat single parents like they are sinners or bludgers or both.
In the first few weeks of 2013 we have seen the Gillard Government punish single parents to the tune of $100 per week by forcing 84,000 of them on to the Newstart Allowance, hence reducing their benefit.
At the same time, it was announced that new anti-discrimination legislation would exempt religious organisations from certain categories of sinners they wanted to discriminate against.
One such category is “unwed mothers” or “single mothers” in secular speak.
All Is Not Lost In Queensland: 10 Seats The ALP Can Win Back In 2013 [Updated]
I’m no psephologist, but….
The last few months has witnessed a notable tightening in published opinion polls. At my last Branch meeting, a branch member asked Senator Thistlethwaite which seats the ALP could conceivably win, given that Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are widely expected to lose their seats. (For what it’s worth, I think both independents could surprise).
A few days later, PM Gillard hosted Community Cabinet in Yvette D’Ath’s marginal Queensland seat of Petrie. With almost each question asked, one thing was obvious – namely, more than just a general distaste of Campbell Newman and some of his decisions over the course of the last few months.
As a result, I decided to turn my mind to ten electorates in Queensland that are worthy of some closer attention. With a tightening in opinion polls, I present below ten seats that the government could perhaps have its eye on.
Mitt Romney: The GOP Symbol Of Having Done Nothing Wrong
Barack Obama won the election. No, really, Obama won it. But that’s not to say that the GOP didn’t make mistakes that helped. And one of the biggies is covered in ‘Crisis Management 101’: Admit fault.
I am so sick of using the phrase ‘The Great Recession’, but that ‘historically significant event that happened a few years ago, and whose effects are still being felt’ is a bit of a mouthful.
Anyway, the GR was a test case in why the deregulating free marketeers shouldn’t be allowed to swim in the adult pool.
As it was in the Great Depression.
Deregulating banking for example doesn’t lead to good outcomes.
There has been a resurgence of good sense across the world about regulating entities that can bring down the global economy. And more over, a general mood that the so called ‘1%’ aren’t the smartest guys in the room, just the greediest.
Woo Hoo? Not so fast.
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