Thread for obviously newsworthy stuff

[Proteus_MST]

What is a reinsurer?

Those are companies that buy (parts of) insurance contracts from insurance companies.
I.e. say an insurance company has some risky insurance contracts and they are unsure that they could cover the costs if the insurance is claimed,
then they can sell (part of) the insurance contract to a reinsurance company.
The insuree stays insured at the insurance company, but the monthly insurance fees he pays are distributed by the insurance company and the reinsurer ...
and if there is a claim, it is paid in parts by the insurance company and in other parts by the reinsurer.

This way the insurance companies keep their financial risks manageable

[Lorizael]

Interesting. Is there any reason why reinsurers in particular would be motivated not to invest in coal-related business?

[rah]

What is a reinsurer?

Just another insurance company (or a specialist) used to spread the risk, for a cut of the action. If I underwrite a policy for a million, and charge you 1000 bucks a month, I might pay a reinsuer 500 a month to cover 500,000 of it.


Opps I guess i was too slow.

And it's just an environmental statement.

[Proteus_MST]

Interesting. Is there any reason why reinsurers in particular would be motivated not to invest in coal-related business?

It seems to be rather a symbolic gesture (Munic Re and Swiss Re may be the worlds largest ones, but there are still enough reinsurers out there who would have no problems with reinsuring or investing in coal related companies).

For the one, both companies are in support of the Paris agreement with its 2° C target.
For the other one, the more and more violent weather events during the past decade have resulted in more claims than the decadesbefore that ...
and with the step the 2 reinsurance companies express their opinion that the use of coal, as one of the most environmentally damaging energy sources, should be scaled back, instead of being supported (as it is done by he current government of the USA)

[JohnT]

What is a reinsurer?

A reinsurer is an insurance company which acts as a secondary insurer to your primary insurer, therefore reducing the risk to your primary insurer.

A (totally made up) example is this: You insure your $20 million factory with Liberty Mutual. LM contacts a reinsurer who agrees, for a portion of the premium, to take on the last $5 million of risk... meaning that if your factory is a total loss, LM eats $15m and the reinsurer eats $5m. If your factory has $10m in losses, LM eats the whole $10m.

[Lorizael]

Okay so apparently everybody knows what a reinsurer is but me. Thanks everyone!

[Kidlicious]

Technically he said there were good people on both sides. Honestly, I doubt he is a neo-Nazi though he is definitely trying to play the dog whostle game (very hard) and he still is with his condemning "all kinds of racism". And while I do agree any group can be racist the right does try to play up the anti-white racism angle almost to the absurd.

I do wish the left would be smarter than that and stop playing the identity card so hard. They could lead by action and not fall into obvious pitfalls.

Maybe you got the idea that conservatives play up anti-white racism from the NYTs who hires you if you are racist against whites.

[JohnT]

Okay so apparently everybody knows what a reinsurer is but me. Thanks everyone!

Nah, no big deal. I'm in the insurance industry so I should know something about this.

[rah]

Yeah, I worked in it for almost 15 years or I wouldn't have known either.

[JohnT]

Sorry, I didn't even see yours and Proteus's responses!

[rah]

Mine was late also.

[Uncle Sparky]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/def-con-hacking-convention-voter-village-1.4784803

Two 11 year olds crack and hack the Florida Voting system in under 15 minutes.

[JohnT]

I bet they weighed 400 pounds!

[Proteus_MST]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/de...lage-1.4784803

Two 11 year olds crack and hack the Florida Voting system in under 15 minutes.

And 33 other of the 39 6-17 year old participants in the Hackathon made it within 30 minutes

One wonders how fast russian hackers can do it ... perhaps Donnie can ask Putin during their next meeting

[Broken_Erika]

The only way to stop the election system from being hacked is with national voter ID laws!