Jonathan Sanders

THE HIDDEN DRIVER OF SOARING HOME INSURANCE COSTS (WSJ) Joshua Enloe has gone from home-insurance paragon to pariah in just three years. Since 2021, the 36-year-old Texan has been twice dropped by insurers, and his annual rate has almost tripled to $13,000 from $5,000, before ending up with a bare-bones state insurer of last resort. His offense? Living in El Lago, a coastal suburb of Houston. The 1960s, 2,200-square-foot home Enloe shares with his wife and dogs is in Harris County, hammered by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. Last week the city’s latest deadly storm swept through El Lago. One leading, but little-discussed, cause of this coverage crunch: a big increase in the cost of reinsurance policies. Now all eyes are on a round of reinsurance renewals currently under way in Florida and elsewhere that will help determine whether more premium increases are in store for homeowners. Full article: msn.com/en-us/money/markets/…

SORRY PRESIDENT BIDEN, THOSE INFLATION NUMBERS TOTALLY SUCK (NYP) If you want to know what Democrats are praying for, read the front-page headlines in The Washington Post, e.g.: “Inflation eased slightly in April, with timing for rate cuts still uncertain.” It isn’t just the timing that is uncertain. With inflation persistently elevated, it isn’t clear that rate cuts are coming at all for the foreseeable future. For months, Democrats have been telling themselves a very reassuring bedtime story that plays out in six parts: 1.) Inflation finally will be whipped, at which point 2.) the Fed is going to step in with some well-timed interest-rate cuts, 3.) putting upward pressure on real wages and 4.) lowering rates on mortgages and car loans, at which point 5.) the American people will offer three grateful cheers for Bidenomics and 6.) re-elect the president. Full article: msn.com/en-us/news/politics/…