Replies to post #301250 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Train Guy]

They won't give you funding to do a test project to safe guard houses, but they will use satellites to cancel policys. Call Arnold up and have him give you funding. He's gone into the moving business. <g> Surely he would go into the fire safety business.

Insurers Use Satellite Data to Study Risk
September 25, 2004 03:42 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES - Insurance companies are using satellites to identify homes at high risk of fire damage because of their proximity to brush - a development that alarms some state regulators and privacy advocates.

Sheree DiCicco was shocked to learn that her insurance company used satellite images to determine her home was located too close to brush and would not be reinsured because of the potential for wildfire damage.

"I didn't know insurance companies would, or even could, do such a thing," said DiCicco, who lives in Auburn in the Sierra foothills northeast of Sacramento.

First American Property and Casualty Insurance Co., which insures DiCicco's home, uses satellite imagery to examine about 10 percent of the properties it insures, the company said. Most of them are in areas of heavy brush in California, Nevada and Arizona.

First American spokeswoman Jo Etta Bandy told the Los Angeles Times for a story in Saturday's editions that if satellite images are questioned, field inspectors can be called in to make determinations about coverage of homes, she said.

But state regulators say the practice is a form of redlining - discriminating against particular neighborhoods - and could lead to policies being arbitrarily canceled. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi called it a serious problem but said he does not have the legal right to stop it.

"Insurance companies are using satellite imagery and just plain photos to redline vast areas of the state without taking into account the individual circumstances of an individual home," he said.

In California particularly, more insurance companies have turned to technology to help with risk assessment after last year's wildfires caused $2.6 billion in losses in Southern California.

Pete Moraga, spokesman for Insurance Information Network of California, a media relations organization supported by insurers, said use of satellite technology may prove to be positive if it makes the industry more efficient.

But Harvey Rosenfield, spokesman for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the practice made him uneasy.

"I'd not heard of this before; it's scary," he said. "It has a creepy, intrusive aspect to it."


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, and mover James Douglas, left, help business owner Candice Doi unload the last of her boxes from a truck Monday, Sept. 20, 2004, in La Verne, Calif. Doi relocated her printing plant from Las Vegas to California after Schwarzenegger unveiled his national "California Wants Your Business" campaign, promising to send a moving truck to pickup the first business to call him about moving. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)

Schwarzenegger Touts Company Relocation
Updated: Tuesday, Sep. 21, 2004 - 12:36 PM

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press Writer

LA VERNE, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted last month that if a company wanted to relocate to California, he would get a moving van and bring them here. He even drove a truck down the Las Vegas Strip to make his point.

On Monday, Schwarzenegger took credit for luring a small printing shop, Lynch Sign Co., over the border _ even if it only brought 10 jobs.

"This is the first company that is moving back to California, bringing jobs back to California," Schwarzenegger said after wheeling up to the company's rented warehouse in the passenger seat of a custom-painted moving van.

California companies in search of cheaper labor, living and energy costs have been defecting to Nevada for years _ 37 crossed the border between July 2003 and June 2004, Nevada officials say.

The sprinkle of jobs for California's recovering economy was scoffed at by Nevada officials, who said they were launching a $700,000 marketing campaign next month to convince major California employers to cross the border.

"It was a business that already wanted to leave," said Jeanie Ashe, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. "The number of employees, the size of the shop, was very small."

To get Lynch to make the move, the state didn't have to do much heavy lifting.

The moving tab, estimated to be as much as $25,000, will be covered by donations from corporations represented on the governor's Jobs Commission, including Countrywide Financial Corp., Yahoo! and Fox Entertainment, said commission spokesman Mark Mosher.

Although Schwarzenegger stacked a few suspiciously light boxes from the truck, the celebrity governor made clear his role is salesmanship, not manual labor.

He wasn't only in the truck, he was all over it. The cab was painted with "Arnold's Moving Co." The trailer was decorated with mock-ups of a state billboard carrying the governor's grinning face and the slogan "Arnold says, California wants your business."

Mosher said that business and income taxes paid by Lynch Sign, which has annual revenues of $700,000, would easily surpass the cost of the move.

Schwarzenegger did not provide specifics on what the move would mean for the state budget, which is facing a continuing cash crunch.

"We made a promise that the first business that called, we would move them," Mosher said. "This business happened to be the first."

Lynch Sign, founded in California in 1956, never cut its ties to the state. It moved its printing operations to Las Vegas 13 years ago but its sales and marketing team remained in California.

Three workers from the Nevada shop will come to California in the move; seven more employees will be hired in California. Twenty-five to 30 more are expected to be hired over time, officials said.

The governor's office only had to pick up the phone to close the deal.

The company contacted the governor's office after an employee heard a radio report about Schwarzenegger's offer to move companies to California. The company owner, Candice Doi, said she had been thinking about consolidating operations in the state for some time. They were happy to get the break on moving costs.

"We hope that this is going to be a very positive experience," Doi said.

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=276116

[swampcracker]

Zeev,

When I look at the $TYX or the TLT, which you trade, it seems to tell me that the market is expecting a recession to start late in the first quarter of 2005 - falling prices, weaker dollar, and weaker gold.

Is this consistent with your timing of your economic model? I haven't seen this discussed lately.

Regards,

Swampcracker

[Justa Werkenstiff]

Z: Am I reading that right? How does Jeanne delay the proposed 1820 low you had from Tuesday to Thursday?