Keep your eyes on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, which just passed both houses of the state Legislature. The proposed amendment is headed to the statewide ballot in the November 2024 general election. If passed, it will eliminate one of the taxpayer protections enacted into law by 1978’s groundbreaking Proposition 13. The intent of ACA 1 […]
The race for the open District 2 seat on Marin’s five-member county Board of Supervisors has turned topsy-turvy. One of the leading candidates, past California Assemblymember Marc Levine of Greenbrae, just withdrew from the race. The Second District encompasses Ross Valley, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Larkspur, Ross, West San Rafael, Greenbrae and Kentfield. The election will […]
Insuring Another Disaster
The concept of insurance is a simple one that revolves around pooling risks and dates back to the 1700s B.C. Under the Code of Hammurabi [1], Babylonian King Hammurabi instituted an insurance-like system for cargo ships. It was a vast improvement over the method of selling into slavery those merchants (and their families) whose cargo was lost at sea, shipwrecked, or stolen by pirates.
Called “bottomry,” under this system “Merchants were allowed to finance their shipping through loans from lenders,” according to an explanation [2] by Western Financial Group. Merchants would repay the loan upon the cargo’s safe arrival but didn’t have to pay “if the merchandise met with an unfortunate incident along the way … Considering the very high risk, the calculated interest on the loan was exceptionally high.”