As communities across the country rebuild from climate disasters, one question looms large: Who pays for it?
Many insurance companies, Kelsey Condon notes, have an answer: Not us!
From burned out California neighborhoods to flooded communities in Iowa and the hurricane-ravaged Southeast, insurers are delaying claims, raising premiums, or suspending coverage altogether. “The industry’s model of profiting in good times and walking away in bad cannot stand,” Kelsey concludes. “Insurance should be a safeguard for families, not a gamble where the house always wins.”
As Sonali Kolhatkar adds this week, some states are concluding that fossil fuel companies need to pay up, too. A growing number of states, she notes, are considering legislation that would compel fossil fuel companies to finance disaster cleanup — an idea modeled on the Superfund program, which fined corporations to clean up toxic spills and other pollution they caused.
“Fossil fuel companies can think of paying into a climate superfund as the cost of doing business,” Sonali concludes. “If they’re in the business of extracting and selling a fuel that destroys the planet, it’s only fair they pay to clean up the damage.”
Also this week, parents Khury Petersen-Smith, Basav Sen, and Lindsay Koshgarian protest the use of “parents’ rights” to justify laws targeting health care for trans kids. “Our children aren’t transgender, but we want to be clear: These attacks don’t speak for us,” they write. “Vast majorities agree that kids and their parents, not politicians, should get to decide what medical care is appropriate.”
Finally, Jim Hightower observes that Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s unlawful shredding of the federal government is actually uniting Americans — against billionaires.
New This Week…
Who Should Pay for Climate Disasters? | Sonali Kolhatkar
Some states are landing on a straightforward answer: fossil fuel companies.
Don’t Let Insurers Get Away With Fleecing Homeowners | Kelsey Condon
In an age of climate disasters, insurance should be a safeguard for families, not a gamble where the house always wins.
We’re Parents. Trump’s Attacks on Trans Kids Don’t Speak for Us. | Khury Petersen-Smith, Basav Sen, and Lindsay Koshgarian
Our kids aren’t trans. But we’re horrified that politicians are attempting to ban reputable health care for kids in the name of “parents’ rights.”
Trump’s Coup Attempt Is Uniting Americans | Jim Hightower
Workaday people — in red states as well as blue — are erupting in spontaneous protests against Trump and Musk’s corporate takeover.
In Case You Missed It…
Elon Musk’s Purge of Federal Workers Is an Attack on Freedom | Emese Ilyés
Public service isn’t about bureaucracy — it’s about maintaining trust and connection. No wonder billionaires want to destroy it.
$100 Billion More for the Pentagon? No Thank You | Chisom Okorafor
Republican lawmakers want to slash services like Medicaid while pouring billions more into the Pentagon. They should do the opposite.
Guantánamo Needs to Be Shut Down, Not Expanded | Farrah Hassen
Trump wants to jail 30,000 immigrants at the notorious naval base, which became a symbol for torture and indefinite detention.
The War on Science Is a War on the Public | Basav Sen
The Trump administration is defunding and censoring science to serve corrupt corporate interests.
