The Economics of Campaign Finance and Social Priorities

Total damages from Hurricane Helene in the United States could cost $250 billion. But only a small fraction of homeowners have flood insurance. As another major hurricane looms, we’ll unpack why coverage is becoming so expensive that many Americans choose to go without. Plus, some news you can use about communicating during an emergency, and how zoo workers and animals ride out big storms.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Kamala Harris Has Raised $1 Billion Since Entering 2024 Presidential Race” from The New York Times
• “CBS ’60 Minutes’ airs two different answers from VP Harris to the same question” from Fox News
• “Most U.S. homeowners hit by Hurricane Helene don’t have flood insurance” from CBS News
• “Hurricane Milton could cost insurers up to $100 billion, analysts say” from Reuters
• “The flood insurance crisis facing Americans” from Axios
• “‘We’ve used hallways, we’ve used bathrooms’: How zoos protect animals when hurricanes hit” from BBC News
• “Tampa zoo and aquarium staff to ride out Milton with the animals” from The Washington Post
• “When Cell Service Is Down, You Can Send iPhone Texts via Satellite” from The Wall Street Journal

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