The L.A. region is experiencing uncontrollable wildfires which are affecting people’s homes. People are quoting Octavia Butler and losing their minds as neighborhoods burn to the ground and poor people have nowhere to evacuate to – all while insurance companies have quietly been removing wildfires as covered incidents for which homeowners and renters can submit claims.
A few years ago… well, 8 years ago now which I guess is too far away for people’s memories… California had massive fires all over the state which resulted in huge portions of Santa Rosa California burning to the ground. In 2018, the Camp Fire also was highly destructive. But SoCal I guess didn’t take note of NorCal neighborhoods burning to the ground since it is so far away to most people in SoCal that it might as well be a different U.S. state.
It should alarm anyone paying attention that 15 of the top 20 most destructive (16 if including the current Palisades fire) wildfires in California have occurred since 2015. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_wildfires#Most_destructive_wildfires)
When it comes to wildfires in Southern California, the interests of disaster capitalism and decreased budgets for publicly funded firefighting collude to ensure that all dollars flow upward to those at the top who enjoy increased protections via ever increasing police budgets.
Wall Street in 2008 saw publicly funded loss mitigation yet homeowners and renters in California see nothing and will likely see nothing with the new Republican administration. Further privatization of the insurance industry and decreased resources for continued ownership will become further entrenched as normal. Meanwhile, commuters of SoCal continue to drive to and from work with some of the longest average commute times in all of America and the world (especially for blue collar workers) further perpetuating the exact conditions that create such a mess in the first place.
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