Kirstenanderberg, in all her righteous indignation, claimed:

So you explain to me why these victims of blatant racism should not just take this stuff. It makes absolutely no sense. It is clear that NO ONE was going to be hurt by the "looting" of those stores.

Not so.

Kirsten talks about tax write-offs. That's all very fine, but tax write-offs are only good for a percentage of the value corresponding to the taxpayer's top tax rate. They help dull the pain.

And who do you think pays for other damage? The insurance companies do. Now I know that insurance companies are not normally high on the list of everyone's favorite soft-spot. People say, "Oh, they're rich! They can afford it!" The "they" who will be hurt will not be (in the first instance, at least) management, but it will be stockholders, and also all future insureds in the property insurance business. You know that the insurance companies are going to raise rates to try to recoup some of their losses. Even though insurance companies normally have what amounts to insurance with other insurance companies which helps in the case of a large loss, in this case it's nearly the whole property insurance industry. I would not be surprised to see some substantial insurance companies going bankrupt out of this hurricane damage.

Dave Oesterreich