this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2025
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Summary

President Biden announced the federal government will cover 100% of costs for initial disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires for 180 days.

The funding includes debris removal, temporary shelters, and first responder salaries.

Biden declared a major disaster, allowing immediate aid access, and directed the Pentagon to assist with firefighting resources.

With 28,000 acres burned, five deaths, and mass evacuations, Biden urged Congress to provide additional aid.

FEMA is coordinating recovery efforts on-site.

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[–] AGD4 110 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Just to confirm, there's no plan to subsidize the rebuilding of $40,000,000 mansions, right?

[–] Lemming421 49 points 6 days ago (8 children)

I don’t know about the US, but in the UK, rebuilding would be covered by the homeowner’s buildings insurance.

Although insurance companies would probably try to claim it as an Act Of God to get out of it. Don’t know how that would go legally…

[–] brlemworld 33 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I'm an Atheist. Act of God is nonsense. What does it even mean? It can mean whatever the fucking insurance wants it to mean and it's horseshit

[–] NiHaDuncan 19 points 6 days ago (5 children)

I’m an atheist that understands that an act of god refers to any destructive natural event where the damage to property couldn’t have been reasonably prevented. And insurance companies detail exactly what is and isn’t covered per policy; it’s just that they can get away with denying coverage due to lack of oversight/policing of them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I Germany we call it "Höhere Gewalt". While that can refer to something supernatural, it just means "higher force" and I think it does a good job as a term.

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[–] bestagon 2 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Isn’t that what insurance is for?

[–] theyoyomaster 2 points 4 days ago

Insurance is literally a market of risk assessments. The odds of any given event are x, y and z and the cost of each of those events are a, b, and c. Take the number of people who are applying for policies and spread the cost based on the risks and figure out how much each needs to pay to be able to cover x, y or z should/when any of them occur. There’s discussions to be had on how much a percentage of profit should be allowable on the top and how much to subsidize on known high risk coverage that is not mathematically reasonable but it all boils down to buying risk based on the chance and cost of any given event happening. Act of God/Force Majeure make complete sense when framing it this way. The insurance policy is based on known and predicted risks. You don’t have volcano insurance in NJ and you don’t have hurricane insurance in Kansas because they aren’t expected disasters so they aren’t included in the risk calculations. Act of God is a catch all term for things beyond the expected scope of the policy which is based on clearly established limits and scenarios.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Read your contracts, the things that fall under this moniker will be listed.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago

Privatize the profits, socialize the losses…

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

No, fire insurance is a required part of home owners insurance in California, at least for now, but I'm sure the cost of this fire will have insurers squirming to get out of that.

[–] Scolding7300 3 points 6 days ago

Hopefully their insurers won't go bankrupt

[–] aesthelete 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I don’t know about the US, but in the UK, rebuilding would be covered by the homeowner’s buildings insurance.

A lot of these places were dropped from their insurance because insurance companies made the risk calculation.

Edit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fires-california-palisades-fire-homeowners-insurance-state-farm-fair-losses/

[–] Maggoty 3 points 6 days ago

I haven't read the articles but there's a bunch of headlines that insurance companies were dropping a lot of houses in the Palisades area.

[–] glimse 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Acts of God are covered by homeowners insurance unless explicitly stated otherwise. A homeowner in the Palisades without fire insurance is.....playing with fire.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

A homeowner in the Palisades without fire insurance probably doesn't have it because their insurance company dropped them, after doing the calculations and realizing how likely a fire was

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 6 days ago

FEMA provides assistance to make essential repairs to homes in some instances, but does not provide rebuilding assistance is my understanding. They do provide funding for temporary shelter and essential supplies, but those amounts are not tied to income.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Rich tend to have power and influence. If biden wants to create a legacy for him and his associates (whether his kins or the party members), he needs to serve the rich people's needs first and foremost.

It is only rational that he does that. Isn't it?

[–] disguy_ovahea 8 points 6 days ago

No mention of rebuilding subsidies for homeowners. I assume they’ll be assisting with state-funded infrastructure after recovery as well.

Meeting with federal officials at the White House, Biden said the funds would go toward debris removal, temporary shelters, salaries for first responders and more for 180 days.

[–] MrNesser 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Isn't that why you have insurance

[–] AGD4 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

For sure, it is. But in the likely event that insurance providers somehow deny the claim, the cynic in me expects the government to provide socialized support for the wealthy as soon as it can.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Because the wealthy are always made whole. It's only the working class who can't stand up for themselves who are generally taken advantage of by insurance agencies.

[–] Tedesche 15 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

Trump would sell NFTs of the ash mounds found in LA, then rug pull and move the assets to the Cayman Islands.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

B u better get them checks signed right now

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Proof that there's always money from Uncle Sam to help the super rich.

[–] TheRealKuni 34 points 6 days ago (5 children)

There are plenty of people affected by this fire who are not super rich. Something like 1 in 34 Americans lives in LA County, IIRC, and most of them aren’t super rich. Yes the Palisades area is pretty affluent, but not all of the surrounding areas are. What’s more, the effort to STOP the fire protects everyone.

Besides, most of who we think of as rich in LA is nowhere near the level of the ultra-wealthy whose wealth we should be redistributing. The 400 richest Americans have over $5 trillion in wealth. A-list actors and directors and movie producers are a drop in the bucket in comparison.

The numbers in this are now out of date because it’s from 2021, but it’s still worth looking at.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Oh, I'm not opposed to stopping the fires. the best way way to do that is to tax anyone burning fossil fuels out of existence.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_ 22 points 6 days ago (9 children)

Two co-workers of my other half lost homes, one lost a family member too. They are service workers, I can assure you they are not rich.

Perhaps you prefer everyone gets nothing as long as it prevents the rich from getting anything too? That’s some republican level thinking - y’know, where no poor people get any help because a freeloader or two might get something.

[–] Bgugi 2 points 5 days ago

I think the heart of the accusation is "initial" in the headline. We're all seeing a repeat of bank bailouts, ppp loans, etc, where the bucket is going to run out immediately before anybody who actually needs it gets a drop, and everybody else is going to end up footing the bill.

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[–] jaggedrobotpubes 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Might as well make the last time it ever happens a good one.

Good call, Joe.

[–] Bahnd 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Its so that 47 cant walk it back and hold the state hostage by witholding relief funds... Again.

[–] Maggoty 3 points 6 days ago

Then California withholds it's funds to the federal government...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

And here I am still waiting on FEMA to get their shit together and get me the money they owe me from over 3 months ago.

[–] Maggoty 4 points 6 days ago

Say what you want about him but the military is sending 10 water helicopters and every fire plane it has. There's also over a thousand ground personnel going to help. And if you've looked at the fire recently you'll see why, there's a real danger it breaks into the semi-urban area.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Trump would 100% be laughing while playing.the liar (lyre)

[–] Warjac 2 points 6 days ago

Isn't that socialism or communism or government over reach though? How can Republicans stand for this?!

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