Mission Viejo Issues

Previous Issues Articles

Rising Condo Insurance Rates More

Education Levels: Democrats / Republicans More

Dark Ages Voting for Judges More

Disaster in MV Capital Budget More

God & Country Documentary Review More

Preparing Police To Confront Shooters More

Growth of Democratic Party in Mission Viejo More

You Are What You Eat Nutrition Study More

Fewer Millionaire Tax Audits More

The Candidates We Deserve More

3,699 Homeless Mission Viejo Students More

Elon Musk’s Windfall of Taxpayer Money More

Hardening the Perimeter More

Fewer Millionaire Tax Audits More

Oso Creek Parking Structure October 2023 More

Insurance Giants Hypocrisy More

Mission Viejo’s 60+ Taxi Service September 2023 More

MV Political Demographics September 2023 MORE

Homelessness in Mission Viejo September 2023 More

A Note from the Managing Editor August 2023 More

Insurance Giants’ Environmental Hypocrisy 

 By Stacy Holmes

Farmers, State Farm, Allstate and AIG announced major reductions in the number of new homeowners insurance policies they will approve in California. Florida and other areas across the country have seen the same pull back by insurance carriers. The insurers all cite rising catastrophe exposure as their reason for curtailing insurance. 

PublicCitizen.org reports that these insurers themselves are major contributors to the climate crisis. Insurance companies are causing the very environmental catastrophes that prompt them to stop offering insurance in areas hit hardest by those environmental disasters.  Insurance companies have not cut back on their massive investments in fossil fuel companies and have supported the expansion of fossil fuel production. Insurers are walking away from homeowners  while they continue to underwrite fossil fuels. Fossil fuel companies cannot operate without insurance. Thus, insurance companies support continued destruction of our environment when they continue to underwrite new fossil fuel projects. For example, AIG, along with several other insurers, is insuring the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas. More than 140 organizations have contacted insurance companies on the anniversary of an explosion at an LNG terminal owned by Freeport LNG.

Major insurance companies are also major investors in fossil fuel companies. The California Department of Insurance shows that State Farm alone had $30 Billion invested in fossil fuel companies. AIG had $24 Billion and Berkshire Hathaway $20 Billion. 

Meanwhile, the insurance industry set a record with a $1 Trillion policyholder surplus in 2021 and similarly high surplus in 2022. Particularly in California, premiums have gone up while deductibles have been increased and coverage limits have been lowered. California US Congress representative Adam Schiff, together with a long list of governmental leaders, has contacted the US Treasury Department to request their study of the impact of insurance companies’ refusal to offer new homeowner policies in California. He also requests that the Treasury Department require insurance companies to disclose publicly their investments in fossil fuel companies. 

 Read more about PublicCitizen.org research and Adam Schiff’s action at the links below:

https://www.citizen.org/article/insurers-fossil-fuels-and-public-risk/

\https://schiff.house.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_the_usdepartmentoftreasuryfederalinsuranceofficefio.pdf

Americans with Disabilities Act 34th Anniversary

By Stacy Holmes

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, as well as many governmental and privately owned places open to the general public.

The ADA made the United States the first country in the world with a federal law requiring reasonable accommodation for disabled persons in all public places, employment, education and transportation. More 

Another Trump Bankruptcy?

By Stacy Holmes

Anita Hamilton in Barron’s reports that Trump Media & Technology Group reported sales of less than $1 million and losses of more than $17 million for the quarter ending June 30. As bad as that sounds, a year ago that same quarter reported a loss of $22 million. Shareholders lost 10 cents per share this year; 26 cents per share last year. Trump himself holds about 60% of the total shares. More