Complex Numbers

Begging, the Question

Let's tackle another prompt from "JAFBG"  [XGC]...

What's your opinion on people who are uninsured seeking donations after disasterous events?

Honestly don't give a shit.

Everyone knows, or should know, that insurance companies are wankers. Just the other day, I saw an article about how some of them lowballed payouts for their customers facing hurricane losses in the Wang of America. I apologize for the New York Post link,   but I saw the same story in WaPo (which is more respectable but paywalled).

It’s been more than four months since Hurricane Ian ransacked Florida’s Fort Myers Beach — but many residents are battling with insurance companies, and one family says they’ve been offered just $500 compensation for their house, which was left unlivable.

To be fair, lots of homes in the Wang are unlivable, hurricane or not. But generally not the ones in Fort Myers Beach.

In any case, the point is, insurance of any kind is kind of a gamble. Not like mad-money casino gambling, but even absent corporate shenanigans, you're paying for peace of mind. If nothing ever happens to your (whatever), then all that money was, in hindsight, wasted. But only in hindsight. Meanwhile, insurance companies have actuaries who, like the oddsmakers in a casino, determine, in aggregate, how much they have to charge in relation to expected payouts from claims in order for the CEO to buy a second (insured) yacht.

I'm not saying it's a scam, though it sometimes is. But the odds are not in your favor. It's largely about risk management, and while the odds are low that something bad will happen to your house (unless you live in Florida or near freight train lines), in the event that it does, the consequences, if you're not insured, can be doubly catastrophic.

Now, if you take the risk and don't get insurance, that's on you. Asking for donations? Well, it's not like you're, say, a bank demanding taxpayer bailout money; those donations are entirely voluntary. If someone feels sorry enough for you and has extra cash, so what? None of my damn business.

One would need to be mindful of the tax consequences, which I'm unclear on. Gifts are generally not taxable by the IRS in the US up to a certain amount; and, over that amount, oddly, as I understand it, the taxes are the responsibility of the donor, not the recipient. No, I don't understand it. No, it doesn't make sense. No, it doesn't have to make sense. But then (again based on my limited understanding), insurance payouts are also nontaxable. And I have less than no idea how other countries handle it.

I mean, I wouldn't give 'em a dime. But that's just me being an asshole.