The economy is under pressure as insurance becomes less affordable, states lose tax revenue and capital is sacrificed to the disaster-industrial complex. Something’s got to give. The industry that got us into this mess is a fair target.

From Bloomberg Opinion (gift link above):

“Hawaii may seem like Eden to those of us living in, say, New Jersey. But lately the only thing biblical about it has been the scale of the punishment it’s taking from nature. In the process, it’s also becoming a battleground in the fight over who will ultimately pay for all the destruction.

“The Aloha State is [bracing](https://www.honolulu.gov/mayor/city-urges-preparedness-as-third-kona-low-storm-threatens-oahu/) this week for its third “[Kona low](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-21/hawaii-hit-with-more-flooding-as-heat-tops-records-in-west?sref=ZtdQlmKR)” storm in a month. The first two of these cyclones delivered high winds, torrential rain and flash flooding that destroyed homes, [farms](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/29/hawaii-farm-recovery-after-storm-flood) and infrastructure. The back-to-back blows inflicted more than [$2 billion](https://www.accuweather.com/en/press/back-to-back-kona-storms-and-destructive-flooding-result-in-around-2-billion-in-total-damage-and-economic-loss-in-hawaii/1876841) in damages and economic losses, the private modeling firm AccuWeather has estimated. The third storm will hit places that haven’t started to recover from the first two. Some were still scarred by the Maui wildfires of the summer of 2023, which took 100 lives and caused at least $14 billion in losses, by AccuWeather’s count.

“This string of catastrophes reminds us that [no corner of the planet](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-08-10/maui-wildfires-climate-change-is-wrecking-former-havens?sref=ZtdQlmKR) will be spared from an atmosphere made more dangerous by global heating — not even Hawaii, which until recently had seemed relatively disaster-free. The storms and wildfires were the [first two billion-dollar](https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-services/billion-dollar-disasters/events?s=endDate%3Adesc&f=beginDate%3Abetween%3A19800101..20261231&ps=50) weather events in the state since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, according to government records [now maintained](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-05/researchers-will-rebuild-billion-dollar-disaster-tool-trump-killed) by the nonprofit group Climate Central. Now the state seems to be in a semi-permanent state of crisis.”