Extreme weather to cost US over $100bn this year: Joe Biden:
President Joe Biden predicted extreme weather events are set to cost the United States more than $100bn this year after a series of raging wildfires and punishing hurricanes wrought havoc across the country.
[...] “We have to make the investments that are going to slow our contributions to climate change, today, not tomorrow,” Biden said.
He made the comments after touring the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, the last stop on a three-state western tour in which the president visited California and Idaho, where global warming has scorched the region’s landscape even as states in other parts of the country battle hurricanes and storms that have caused flash floods and killed dozens.
Biden sought to build support for his administration’s infrastructure spending plans aimed at fighting the growing threat of climate change.
On Monday, Biden said the economic damage caused by extreme weather cost the US $99bn last year, before predicting on Tuesday the price tag would come in at more than $100bn for 2021.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @02:25PM (39 children)
compared to the 3.5 TRILLION the Dems are trying to stuff down our throats.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday September 20 2021, @02:35PM (11 children)
...which itself is nothing compared to however much we pissed away in terms of not just money but time, power, prestige, focus, and goodwill in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. And at least that 3.5T is going to help US citizens.
Y'know, "America First" and all that? And, how does that stack up against Trump's goddamn corrupt tax cuts for the already ultra-wealthy?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @03:04PM (4 children)
First of all, your argument is whataboutism.
You're very naive if you think this is true.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DannyB on Monday September 20 2021, @04:50PM (3 children)
What it replied to was also whataboutism.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @04:56PM (2 children)
Well, everything is "whataboutism"when it's convenient, isn't it? Let's just stop comparing things, not only is it "whataboutism", it's also discrimination.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @05:46PM (1 child)
Says the biggest whatabouter that drags every conversation into political D vs R. Cry us a river.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @06:44PM
:-) Sorry, that's your charade, not mine.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @04:31PM (1 child)
But the dems are repealing those tax cuts, right? And they're going to stop bailing out the financial industry? I mean there goes your 3.5 trillion in a little over every two and half years. Even the war is better budgeted.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @03:32AM
> But the dems are repealing those tax cuts, right?
No.
The Dems are spinless cowardly shitbags who serve the same masters as the evil and corrupt Republican shitbags. They are "rolling back the tax cuts" which means reducing the givaway to the rich a little bit, but letting them keep much of the Trump tax giveaway. Can't piss off those donors.
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:23PM (1 child)
Who just so happen to be major investors in large corporations, amirite? Funny, how important it is to spend the money and not so important who it gets spent on.
LOL.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @06:48PM
Wait, you aren't complaining about that now, are you? That would be most ironic!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @07:20PM (1 child)
We pissed away goodwill in Afghanistan? Goodwill coming from WHOM? From the foreign countries, or the Afghan people?
Seems to me Afghanistan collapsed without much of a fight because they didn't take to our liberal, feminist, homosexual cultural imperialism. America erred when it thought it could create a "model state" for that part of the world using an alien culture.
Hell, we had a mural of GEORGE FUCKING FLOYD painted in Afghanistan. Why would the Afghan people give a shit about him? It was all *us* projecting ourselves onto the place. George's mural was painted over by the Afghans as soon as we left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @12:38AM
Are you kidding?
When it comes to imperialism, "human rights" and "feminism" are just bullshit for pravda.
(Score: 0, Troll) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @04:23PM (13 children)
Yes, it truly is nothing, not even a month's worth of Wall Street bailouts which are running at least 120 bil every single month. So please, save your breath about a lousy 3.5 trillion, and let's not hear any more bullshit about the "debt" while this continues.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:24PM (9 children)
120 billion * 12 months = 1.44 trillion 3.5 trillion.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:32PM (8 children)
Please note: 3.5T is over 10yrs - that is how Congress works -- over 10yrs! So 350B per year. vs 1.44T per year (your math)
math is hard, when you hide the facts
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:40PM (7 children)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @06:56PM (6 children)
:-) You really shouldn't complain about the "deficit" until you're ready to cut the financial industry bailouts, which are costing at least ten times what the weather will.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @07:48PM (5 children)
I'm quite comfortable cutting that stuff. I'm also quite comfortable cutting all the others mooching on the federal dime too.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @08:10PM (4 children)
Start with Wall Street, so we can believe you're serious.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 21 2021, @03:58AM (3 children)
And my take is that to take on "Wall Street", we will have to take on its protection like entitlement spending.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 21 2021, @04:08AM (2 children)
You must be, you always show up
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @02:51PM (1 child)
Let me help you here.
Khallow doesn't believe your weirdly dogmatic anti-everything narrative.
He does try to correct your more blatant errors.
If you have an actual, fact-based point, please make it so that we can all see that you're not just a conspiracy theorist. Thanks.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 21 2021, @05:59PM
Always do, you just don't want to see. My "conspiracy theories" are no less valid than yours.
Now, what were you saying?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:25PM (2 children)
120 billion * 12 months = 1.44 trillion < 3.5 trillion.
(Score: 2, Touché) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @06:37PM
Sorry, I didn't quote the part you did, as it was irrelevant. I was talking 100bil the weather is supposed to cost, which is less than the monthly installments made to your banker friends, and the 3.5tril is just less than three years of those payments. Obviously you didn't read the entire post, in fact, you really didn't read it at all, typical.
Comparatively the 100bil a year is nothing, cheaper than the war
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @08:58PM
khallow, repeating a miscalculation based on a lie does not magically make it true, even with magic libertarian dust.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @05:44PM (11 children)
Offtopic
Hmm, I see the democrat mod squad is out on the prowl. Gotta protect their catatonic prez
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @05:50PM (6 children)
Still salty your sock puppet army got squished?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:08PM (5 children)
We never had a chance against your sock puppet army. The admins are with ya
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:25PM (2 children)
Looks like your IP got shadow banned/censored, your comment text is all blacked out.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:39PM (1 child)
No it is isn't. I see it just fine. You're just covering your eyes. Your sock puppets are alive and well.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @08:14PM
"herp derp dey dun lik muh poleetickle bull huey muh uprusshin! mussa bin dem dam dirty joooooz!"
This translation brought to you by the award winning gameshow How Stupid Can Rightwingers Get? on at 9/11 Central on Fox!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:30PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @12:40AM
Generally it helps if not all in the army are sock puppets.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday September 20 2021, @08:45PM (3 children)
It's pure whataboutism, and offtopic. The OP is about the cost of extreme weather events, and some AC just HAS to turn it into some asinine political rant.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 21 2021, @05:56AM (2 children)
The cost of forest fires is a direct consequence of mismanagement of the forests, which was unfortunately a sequence of policies by a government-appointed body.
OK, it's decades of it, under various party-political influences, but it's still politics. Hilariously, the reasons for the mismanagement were almost contradictory - Dems were pretending to be "green", not understanding the consequences, GOP was pretending to cut costs, not understanding the consequences.
I'm pretty sure both the libertarians and greens would have made the same mistake too, for obvious reasons, this really isn't a *partisan* issue. So your comment is fair. Anyone complaining about such a moderation should, and will, be laughed it.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Tuesday September 21 2021, @03:49PM (1 child)
Agreed. I did struggle a bit with the phrasing, "partisan" would have been better.
However the first AC's comment was not about forest mismanagement due to politics; it was a partisan whatabout. The offtopic mod was correctly used.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday September 24 2021, @06:36AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @08:42PM
Why are conservatives always having things specifically "stuffed down their throats"? Is this some kind of fetish?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @02:40PM (19 children)
Stop allowing people to build in stupid places. Sand bars, Barrier Islands, middle of Forrest, area the Flood yearly or more often now. Simple 2: strike system:
1) Home got damage and FEMA had to step in.
2) It got damaged again with-in 10 years for 1). Buy them out and they MOVE, perio
Why should we keep paying for them to live in bad areas? Get them to safety. FEMA and State and Feds have done the before. They are doing that now in LA now, were a developer was allowed to build on wetlands, He build good, raised the ground, so the new homes will be safe, but by doing so flood the rest of twon, since the wet lands was the drainage area for the town. LA state is paying 100M to move the now flood area.
That should have been crimcal case against the devloper and permit sign-off by city/county/state for allowing the damage to other areas by their negligence.
Gulf coast needs to be cleared out. Allow nature to get back in there reapir the damage.
New Jersey coast should be cleared.
Long Island also.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday September 20 2021, @03:08PM (1 child)
Actually, I think you are too generous. The first time a home in one of these areas makes use of federal insurance, you pay them off, and they are disqualified from any future insurance claims. If they re-build, it's entirely on them.
Federal insurance should never have existed in the first place. You want insurance, contract with a private company. Can't get insurance, because you're building someplace stupid? Maybe that's a hint that you shouldn't build there.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @06:06PM
Just change the building code. Your house has to have sufficient flotation to stay above the water. Or do this [wikimedia.org]. We can adapt, you know
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 20 2021, @03:58PM (7 children)
So are we simply shutting down all the seaports in our nation or will we be flying in all the people who work there because they can't build housing nearby?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @06:33PM (5 children)
We can fly in a lot of workers using the hot air you expended on that post. Sorry, I don't buy that not encouraging people to build in stupid places somehow means that we can't have nice things like seaports. We have those workers live in the non-stupid places near the seaport. Problem solved. You're welcome!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 20 2021, @07:05PM (4 children)
Where is the not-stupid place?
Can't be along the coast: flooding
Can't be in the lower areas: earthquakes
Can't be in the higher areas: volcanoes
Can't be on the other side of the mountains: tornadoes
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @07:36PM
The desert, just ask Sam Kinison
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 20 2021, @07:49PM (2 children)
This. There's plenty of space along the coast that isn't susceptible to flooding.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @08:37PM
People are still building houses with basements in areas like mine where basements flood every spring and insurance doesn't cover anything... Most people have no common sense and lack any compensatory skills.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @06:19AM
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday September 20 2021, @07:09PM
No, we just build everything on barges, might even look pretty cool
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @04:22PM
D.C. also.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 20 2021, @04:55PM (4 children)
Or, stop paying their insurance claims.
If they can afford to live there and rebuild continually, I don't nessecelery have a problem with it becoming a privately funded jobs program.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:40PM (3 children)
Big problem is public funded support.
1) Power
2) Phone
3) Gas lines
4) Roads
5) Bridges
6) Emergency Response
7) Water
8) Sewer
9) ..................
All that needs to be pulled back and out. No infrastructure then NO STRUCTURES.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 20 2021, @07:58PM (2 children)
Make them pay for infrastructure.
Don't utilities often charge a significant amount to put in new infrastructure out to someone remotely located? Of course, that probably doesn't happen much any more. But I seem to remember stories of that as a teenager.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @12:22AM (1 child)
your are right... but when it damaged, who pays then? Higher rates for rest of us or feds or state (all us again).
Need to thing FULL LIFE CYCLE. For those infrastructure issues the life cycle is FOREVER.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday September 21 2021, @04:11AM
Easy enough to fix.
Have public infrastructure stop at the edge of flood/volcano/bushfire zones. The public services can set up a big power outlet / tap / fiber junction at the edge and leave distribution within the zone to the people who live there. If they want to build in there they can form a private company to deal with it.
If it submerges, burns, or gets dissolved in lava they or their insurance company can fund the re-building.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 20 2021, @09:33PM (1 child)
You're going to quickly run out of places and wind up relocating huge numbers of people. For example, the Bay Area (incl. San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Silicon Valley) is prone to earthquakes. Do all those people have to move? How about all the places in the Midwest that are prone to tornadoes? The entire Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard have to bug out because of hurricanes? How about all the places in the West that are prone to wildfires/forest fires?
Floods, too, happen all over the place because flood plains tend to border rivers and most of humanity's communities are next to rivers.
However, I too approve of clearing out New Jersey. It is a wasteland.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @03:59AM
They do not have earthquakes the destory every uear or even every 10 years. SO they will be ok. For Earthquakes, Also you can get private insurance for damage. I use to live within 1/2 mile of Hayward Fault. Also Bodega Bay and San Adreas Fault. Every llok at the hole in ground where PG&E was going to build the nuclear reactor., 300yds from the fault line.
What is not covered is flooding. So Russian River from mouth to Sonoma Airport. Some of that area is good farm lands, but now mostly grapes. A crop that cannol take flooding, at least not like the apples and stone fruits that were there.
What about the salt ponds in south Bay. As sea level rises. North Beach, Wharf, Mile of Market Street, China Basen, that are just above high tide line. What about T reassure Island? Built for 1939 World Fair, was the San Francisco Airport, when seaplanes were common.
Most all those Bay Area sites will need to pulled back. Though they could just damn under the Golden Gate Bridge, and convert the SF Bay to "fresh water" and pump it out to the Pacific or pump it south to Los Angels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @03:44AM
I'm OK with no federal insurance or federal / state disaster funds for folks who build in these areas / No firefighting effort etc. But, the more desirable areas are too expensive for many to be able to afford. I'd rather have a house with some elevated chance of it being destroyed than continuing to pay 1/2 of my monthly income to rent. I might get lucky or not, but if I'm lucky, I have something to give to my kid. If not, I have just as much nothing as I if I'd continue to pay crazy rents.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Tokolosh on Monday September 20 2021, @02:45PM
Spend a few trillion, make 100 billion - profit!
The easy way for the government to save $100 billion.... Don't spend it.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @04:05PM (2 children)
$100 billion divided by $110,000 = around 909,090 Hellfire missiles that you can't launch at Afghan civilians. If you catch the Afghan civilians while they're grouped together in a courtyard and get 'em while they're young, you can solve the Afghanistan problem permenently. At least in Biden's mind.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @05:55PM (1 child)
Funny how with Trump you screamed TDS whenever he was legitimately criticized, now with Biden you rightwing extremists are injecting your personal flavor of insanity. Bombing the Middle East was apparently a Very Good Thing (TM) until a Democrat is in the White House. Is your entire life a never ending lie to yourself? Do you realize your insanity is being driven for the political power of a few rightwing elites that would happily watch you die in a gutter?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @12:48AM
They would make excellent Borg drones. Already they reject thinking for themselves.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @04:42PM (4 children)
> a series of raging wildfires and punishing hurricanes
> the growing threat of climate change.
Poor forest management isn't climate change and the extreme weather starts on the other side of the warming trend when we begin heading towards another ice age.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 20 2021, @05:05PM (1 child)
A very long, long time ago, last winter, I seem to recall Texas having extreme cold that their energy companies had not anticipated ever needing to build for.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21 2021, @04:08AM
True that, but it was the fault of California not managing their forest fires! (grin)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @06:30PM (1 child)
Is this just copy pasta from the Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/FlameWars/tell-me-youre-stupid-without-saying-youre-stupid [reddit.com] ?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @07:35PM
"Tax [nasa.gov] me [theconversation.com] hard! [livescience.com]"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @09:06PM
Hang on a little moment here, folks.
We've had monumentally expensive things happen because of weather in the USA long before any significant climate changes might even have arguably nudged any needles.
At what point does this turn into a weather surcharge? In fact, has it even turned into a weather surcharge yet? Is this, what with stupid inflation numbers (and don't try using chained CPI for your inflation here; PPI is a much more appropriate measure), altered regulations and the rest of it, a significant jump? How does this compare to, say, Hurricane Andrew? Haven't changing building codes mitigated the risks? How about changing mudslide risks? Or blizzard? Or other kinds of weather risks?
It's a big number, but is it an unexpectedly big number?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @10:25PM (1 child)
would the money printer even notice a $100 billion?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 21 2021, @12:14AM
Barely, It pumps that out now very month, pus tips
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..