When did our country turn into a country where we blame everyone else for our own stupid decisions? The tennessee floods have recently provided the most recent example of this “it’s your fault” mentality that has become the majority opinion around this place. And yes, I live in Nashville and am now paying for people’s failure to own up.

For starters, flood insurance. I had no idea that flood insurance didn’t cover the contents of a house, just the physical structure. But then again, I don’t own a house at the current time, I rent so I made sure that I have insurance that covers just about every scenario. The people that DO have a house should have checked on this little detail. It doesn’t seem like it would be to complicated to say “and that covers everything in my house?” when you buy the flood insurance. But people didn’t do that, and they claim their insurance companies didn’t ask them about this rider they should add on to cover their possessions… But to be honest I find it hard to believe, the reason for that is because insurance is not a non-profit industry. They are very much for profit. So the likelihood the insurance companies wouldn’t push additional policies to me just doesn’t sound right. What I think is more likly is the banks told home owners to get flood insurance, oweners did and maybe they were presented with this additional option and told it would cost $400 more a year. Most people would do the math and probably turn it down, it’s another $33 a month on top of the other policies, they figure they don’t need and if the banks don’t require it they won’t spend it.

Then the floods come. I think last I heard they called this a once every 500 year flood or some large number, so yes it’s very rare the city has seen that amount of flooding. So you get all these people that didn’t do their homework and either turned down flood insurance for their contents or didn’t ask to make sure personal belongings were covered. How are either of these scenarios my problem?

Well, now FEMA has stepped in and a report this morning said they already wrote $28 million dollars worth of checks in the last week and other families that don’t have coverage can apply for aid and get a check in as little as 72 hours. Great…… What???

See I don’t think people realize where that money is coming from. It’s not like the government is firing up the printing presses and making more money, nope they are just writing more checks which increases the national debt which is ultimatly paid for by taxpayers, you me and people in all the other states of this once great land.

So if I understand this correctly here’s the scenario.

1. A person/family bought a home.
2. If the home was in a flood area they were forced to buy insurance to protect the home, but not the contents. After all the bank doesn’t care what you own, they care what THEY own. If the home wasn’t in a flood area the home owner didn’t have to buy insurance, and from my experience buying a home in Knoxville on a large hill I WAS offered flood insurance, and yes turned it down so I know agents offer it, why wouldn’t they it’s more money for them?
3. A flood comes out of nowhere and just destroys the area, people don’t have the proper coverage because they decided the risk was to low and they didn’t want to spend that extra $33 a month. Suddenly everything they own is gone and they have no coverage.
4.  The government swoops in like a super hero to these people and starts writing checks to covers peoples losses which only occurred because those people DIDN’T DO THEIR HOMEWORK and had no clue what they needed. Hey why should they, we live in a society where we are spoon-fed information and people take no initiative of their own.
5. Federal deficit grows, all that money that was paid to homeowners is paid for by the taxpayers…

I’m not saying that mistakes don’t happen, but if you buy a house you should at least be smart enough to do some homework and ask questions. If you decided the risk for additional coverage was not high enough for you to purchase it then federal aid should be denied immediately. If you weren’t offered the coverage, you really should have asked for details before buying something you didn’t understand.

And maybe these people have a case, maybe they should have been told what insurance did and did not cover. Although I’m 100% positive had they read their policy declarations from the insurance companies they would have known what was covered, insurance companies spell it out in detail what is covered so that there isn’t open window leaving them liable for scenarios like this.

It’s like if I

• go to the store and buy peanut butter and jelly but no bread, should the clerk be required to tell me that if I want to make a sandwich I need to add bread or is that up to me to figure out?
• go to the gas station and put the gas pump in my gas tank but never squeeze the trigger, leave and run out of gas down the road. Should the station attendant be required to tell me I have to squeeze the handle?
• order cable tv service at home but have no tv, should the cable company be required to tell me I need a tv to watch the cable service?
• go fishing with no hooks, no pole, no line, no bait…. Should someone have stopped me and told me I need supplies?

And yes those examples above have little to do with flooding, but it’s a concept theory here that some people need to be told everything because they just won’t ask or are ignorant.

I heard on the news this morning that mass lawsuits are going to start hitting the courts as homeowners start suing their insurance providers for not telling them what they should have asked. This is not going to do anyone good should these people somehow win their case. Because insurance companies to recoup their loss will do what all businesses do when they lose a court battle, raise their prices. So not only do taxpayers get to pay for the FEMA money that is being spent on people that didn’t make good decisions, but now we all get to pay for higher premiums from our insurance companies because of this as well…

I’m not anti-government, let me get that straight. I’m pro-personal responsibility. We are were a nation of free thinkers. We’ve become a nation where the government WORKS for us to a government in that is like parents to us. They have to tell us everything. Government is good, it’s needed when done right, but personal responsibility is huge and these two concepts are what founded this country. We really as a people are going the wrong direction, we keep passing blame for everything that goes on and no one will step up and say “i messed up.” Was this a disaster no one could predict? Sure. But there was plenty home owners could have done to protect themselves in the ways of education, insurance, etc.

As for why the weather service had no clue, I think they predicted we would get around 5 inches or rain… We got in some areas 15+” inches of rain…. They were way off, not sure why with all the technology no one saw this, I realize once it’s above the city it’s to late for homeowners to do anything other then pack the car and get out, but that is plenty of time to save the most valuable of possessions. Or do what I do, put the most valuable stuff like copies of photographs on CD’s and store them in a fireproof/waterproof safe, and for other items like computer files use online services to store your information off site.

The bottom line is people need to be smart, ask questions and make sure you know what you are buying (or not buying.) Take ownership for your decisions or lack of decisions. Read up on topics if you need help or more information, ask questions, think critically. But don’t rely on everyone else to tell you what to do and how to do it. If that’s how you want to live then fine, but don’t make me pay for your failures.