The insurance case is on the table now. There is an interesting column today in the Post by Warren Buffet; his company sells insurance and lost a few billion last month.
He makes what to me is a persuasive point that the costs of some disasters exceed the total capitalization of the industry, much less any company, so the could not be expected to insure against them. I don't know how you hedge against a suitcase nuke. At the same time, business firms cannot function without insurance. So a government role would seem to be called for. To his credit, Buffet notes that any public backstop of this type ought to be financed with a tax on insurance premiums. mbs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fred's note should open up what I consider to be a very important topic that I have never seen fully analyzed. I would love to see more exchanges about the subject here. . . .
