A Profitless World

As the LA fires were slowly contained by the heroic effort of firefighters, many of whom were incarcerated, as mutual aid groups handed out masks, and as people worked to help one another in the middle of devastation, landlords and insurance companies were taking a different approach. Landlords began to price gouge, raising the rents on thousands of properties in violation of the law and of all conception of morality. At the same time, insurance companies are reportedly pondering “whether they need to raise premiums in California even beyond the sharp rate increases of the past several years” according to The Guardian.

Home insurance rates have jumped in areas being hit by climate catastrophes. Areas at risk of fire, at risk of sudden flooding, or vulnerable to sea levels rising are seeing insurers either hike rates dramatically, or pull back altogether. In Florida, as many as 1 in 5 homeowners are now going without home insurance, according to More Perfect Union. That’s in part because of the cost, but also due largely to the fact that many residents can’t find a company to give them coverage. California is increasingly seeing a similar problem, with insurers scrapping thousands of policies even before these wildfires.

**The simple truth is that we can’t insure our way out of the climate crisis, the housing crisis, or our fundamentally flawed health care system. ** We can’t set the world on fire, then expect a for-profit insurance system to take care of the damage. It’s a solution that’s unequipped for the magnitude and severity of the problem. California does have a state-run insurance plan, but as Hamilton Nolan writes, “The scenario of a state-run insurance plan going broke due to a big disaster has now come true. California’s state-run insurer, the FAIR Plan, reportedly had less than $3 billion in combined cash and reinsurance on hand, yet is going to be on the hook for billions of dollars more in claims from these fires.” That $3 billion can only possibly cover a tiny fraction of the billions in damages wrought by the fires devastating LA. Business Insider reports that the total damages could rise as high as $250 billion.

It’s hard to understand that number. The entire GDP of Peru is $267 billion. That was the whole country’s economy over the course of 2024. The damages from the LA fires over ten days or so could nearly reach that number. We have reached an inflection point where it is glaring, undeniably obvious that the cost of continuing to ignore climate change is far greater than the cost of addressing it. So why is the ruling class still so intent on ignoring the clear and present danger of this crisis?

Because properly dealing with the climate crisis means placing the collective above the corporations, people above profits, and our long-term future over the next earnings report. It requires shifting society so that a few greedy people no longer set the agenda, and the public can democratically set the agenda and shape the world. Right now a handful of billionaires and their corporations have a wildly disproportionate impact on our lives, on all of society. They set the agenda and uphold a system not built to serve us. Industries are only meant to serve the few, at the expense of the many and at the expense of the planet.

We know how the for-profit health care industry kills. We know how those companies make billions by denying people care, and how people die as a result. It’s time to draw out this same logic and take a close look at the for-profit home insurance industry. These corporations are now also seeing that they can make billions denying coverage, and how doing their jobs and providing coverage will cost more and more in a warming world. So they’re opting not to do their job, and it’s time for us to fully reckon with that fact. As Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” And it is difficult or impossible to get industries to change when their existence depends on the status quo.

But normalcy is fading, for all of us. The world, the climate, our entire reality is changing without our consent. A few massive corporations, and the larger capitalist system they operate in, are warming our planet and causing a crisis against our will. We know that we urgently need a sustainable world. We know that means less consumption, less fossil fuels, and less focus on profit. But there is no path to that new reality without going through the corporations and the models that deliberately prevent our process and deliberately perpetuate the climate crisis.

When it comes to insurance it’s an entire system, an entire way of doing business that stands in our way. Capitalism makes housing a commodity and says that the corporations responsible for protecting our homes should only do so if they’re making a profit. But the reality is that housing is a human right, a need, and that we collectively have a responsibility to put roofs over our neighbors’ heads. That is what society ought to be, the embodiment of our responsibility to one another, the living out of collective commitments and care. Instead, right now, we see homelessness hit record highs as landlords make billions, and even try to profit off the wildfires themselves.

The rapacious nature of capitalist greed simply isn’t compatible with a sustainable future. We need to build a world that lasts, while billionaires want a world that falls apart, allowing them to profit off rebuilding it.

And when the destruction isn’t profitable, capitalists will deliberately abandon everyone else. We need a different logic, a different set of rules and responsibilities governing our world. We need to be guided by solidarity, care, and the push for liberation instead of profit margins and earnings reports. Our health, our homes, our future can’t be entrusted to people and systems guided by greed – we can’t afford it when the world is going up in flames.