Looking at the photos on this page: http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/hurricane-sandy-before-after-photos/ I couldn't help but think (like after Katrina) why the government should help insurance companies pay for certain areas? Why should anyone but the insurance company cover the losses on sandy beach housing? Really??? If they think they can cover losses of homes in those areas, then let them cover them with no help. (Something tells me this will be very polarizing for some people. Those who think a man should be able to build on sand and expect others to cover his stupidity and those who don't...)
I see you've been watching Stossell. It was always my understanding that major insurance companies had to have reinsurance with companies like Lloyds of London, exactly for catastrophic events such as these. If I understood Stossell correctly, I think he was implying that the insurance policies on many of these beach homes were directly underwritten by the government, which is complete BS. Insurance carriers need to be able to pay their claims, even in major catastrophic events, but I can't see why the government would ever play insurance company.
Shonky real estate deals push up the price of land. Let's say pre-sandy the land it covered was worth 10 billion. Post-Sandy the land it covered is at risk of devaluation, depending on rebuild. Less and less people rebuild the same area, it might now be worth only 1 billion. Everybody suffers, even untouched homes, as prices drop all over the affected areas. If the area is rebuilt then land prices go back up and things go back to normal. The government knows how much income the area generated, how much it will lose and whether it's worth rebuilding. When you calculate the cost of re-housing people who have lost everything against the cost of rebuild it can become an easy decision.
I think that first, insurance companies should be required to use every and all assets to pay these claims. that includes selling desks, cutting salaries of executives, selling buildings. Nothing should be protected. Only for freak disasters like Sandy should the government step in. The alternative is the plunge the economy into chaos. Queens is already devolving into a Road Warrior scenario with people fighting for food and gasoline. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/queens-residents-arm-looters-article-1.1196031