Grumpy Editor

HIGHER AUTO INSURANCE LOOMS

Look for higher car insurance ahead, observes Grumpy Editor.

 

Premium rate increases are being triggered by inflation, higher claims costs and more costly auto parts.

 

Another factor drivers face is a shortage of workers that is causing longer repair times.

 

All this means an added expense from extended use of car rentals.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

TRUST IN NEWS MEDIA FADES.  Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults say news media is increasing political polarization in the U.S. and just under half say they have little to no trust in the media’s ability to report news fairly and accurately, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.  

 

MILITARY SPENDING HITS RECORD.  Worldwide military spending last year hit a record level, influenced by the war in Ukraine and tensions over China and its growing military clout.

 

GOLDEN STATE TO BAN TRUCKS, BUSES THAT RUN ON DIESEL FUEL.  California’s state regulators approved a ruling that new big rigs and buses that run on diesel fuel would not be sold in the Golden State starting in 2036.

 

SHIPPING GOODS BY SEA MORE COSTLY NOW.  It’s costing more to ship goods by ocean from Asia to the U.S.  Price to ship a 40-foot container, for example, via that route jumped one third (or about $400) over the past two years.

 

ARMY EXPECTS TO MISS RECRUITING GOAL.  The Army, again this year, does not expect to reach its ambitious recruiting goal of 65,000 soldiers.  Last year the Army fell some 15,000 active-duty recruits short from its goal of 60,000 troops.

 

ON ENDANGERED LIST.  Gas leaf blowers and lawn mowers are on the endangered list.  Clean air folks say they are bad for the planet and bans are beginning to spread among states.

 

POPULAR U.S. MOVING DESTINATIONS.  Most popular moving destination in the U.S. is Houston.  Penske Truck Rental’s tally of the top 10 cities that received the most inbound one-way consumer rentals in 2022: 

 

• 1) Houston, TX
• 2) Las Vegas, NV
• 3) Orlando, FL
• 4) Phoenix, AZ
• 5) Atlanta, GA
• 6) Charlotte, NC
• 7) Dallas, TX
• 8) Jacksonville, FL
• 9) San Antonio, TX
• 10) Austin, TX

 

 

AVERAGE PET INSURANCE PREMIUMS ARE MODERATING

With more pets in U.S. households, Grumpy Editor notes there are signs of pet insurance trending lower.

Money magazine says according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, average cost of insuring a pet cat against accident and injury has gone down from $349 a year in 2019 to $341 in 2020 while  premiums for dogs rose at a much more modest rate than in any other year since at least 2016.  

Between 2018 and 2019, the annual premium increase for insuring an average dog was $26.47, tallies the magazine.  From 2019 to 2020, the same number went up by  $8.75, about a third of the previous year’s hike.

New pets are the reason average premiums have moderated, says Rick Faucher, CEO and cofounder of The Connected Pet Company and president of NAPHIA. “We’ve seen double-digit growth in gross written premiums, which have increased by 25.5 percent, as well as double-digit growth in the number of pets insured, which grew by 22.5 percent. When a market expands that quickly, you see a unit cost flattening, because you have a larger pool to spread the risk.”

“Pet insurance premiums are a relatively hefty expense,” points out Money.  “On average, you’ll pay around $700 a year to insure a dog and $350 or so to cover a cat. Even a moderation of the premium hikes of recent years could result in spending hundreds of dollars less over your pet’s lifetime than might have been the case. And that in turn could reduce the sting of having pet insurance that rarely if ever pays out, as our analysis suggests will be the case for most dog and cat owners.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

WORLD'S LARGEST YACHT HAS SIX DECKS.  The world's largest yacht when it is launched in 2024 will be fitted with 39 apartments on six decks, along with restaurants, bars and an onboard beach club. At 728 feet, it is to be built by Norwegian ship designer and builder VARD at a cost of around $600 million.

 

IRS FACING MILLIONS OF UNPROCESSED RETURNS.  The tax filing season ends with the Internal Revenue Service facing 35.3 million unprocessed tax returns, higher than in the 2019 pre-pandemic filing season.

 

COUPLE FACES FINE FOR BULLDOZING JOSHUA TREES.  A San Bernardino, California, couple is facing an $18,000 fine after bulldozing 36 Joshua trees from land where they plan to build a home because it is illegal to remove or kill a Joshua tree, a candidate for the California Endangered Species Act.

 

GIANT HAILSTONE DROPS ON TEXAS.  A hailstone that fell one mile south-southwest of Hondo, Texas, measures “an unheard size” of 19.73 inches in circumference and 6.4 inches in diameter and weighs 1.26 pounds, which labels it the largest hailstone to drop on the state.

 

DOG RETURNS, RINGS DOORBELL. Spooked by fireworks, a dog called Rajah runs away from home in Greenville, South Carolina.   She returns home hours later and somehow rings the doorbell to be let in.

 

ROBOCALL DEADLINE ENDS FOR PHONE COMPANIES.   June 30 was the deadline for telephone companies to report to the Federal Communications Commission whether they are implementing the agency's required robocall blocking technology.  Did they meet the deadline?  We’ll find out soon.

 

RUSSIA AND CHINA EYE HAWAII?  Japanese deputy Yasuhide Nakayama tells the Hudson Institute Russia and China are coordinating military drills to threaten not only Taiwan but also Hawaii, and the U.S. should be wary of a Pearl Harbor style surprise attack.

Imagine: Omaha World-Herald and GEICO in same family

Looks like insurance company GEICO and The Omaha World-Herald Co. will be in the same conglomerate --- Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., notes Grumpy Editor.

Buffet, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, also based in Omaha, says his company is buying Nebraska’s principal daily newspaper. 

The $200 million deal, subject to a Dec. 20 vote by 275 employees and retirees who own World-Herald stock, also includes Nebraska dailies in Kearney, Grand Island, York, North Platte and Scottsbluff. 

The 126-year-old World-Herald has an average weekday circulation of about 135,000. 

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries focus on diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services. 

Yet, it’s not Berkshire Hathaway’s ’s entrance into the newspaper business. Buffet’s company also owns The Buffalo News and is the largest shareholder in the Washington Post Co., holding about 21 percent of the publicly traded shares. 

Buffet says his hometown newspaper is “an important institution here” and “is a reasonable investment.”  The paper, he adds, “delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in America.”

At a meeting yesterday, Buffet, 81, reveals he got his first taste of the newspaper business as a child when he earned $5,000 delivering newspapers, an activity that became the basis of investments that grew into Berkshire Hathaway.

 

PR route to grabbing editors’ attention: bosom insurance

One certain method for entertainers’ public relations representatives to grab editorial space and broadcast mentions is to trumpet their clients’ key body parts are being insured for $1 million, notes Grumpy Editor. 

It has worked for more than half a century. 

Latest to stir up editors’ interest via that route was Holly Madison. 

The star of “Peepshow,” a Las Vegas production, recently insured her breasts for $1 million with Lloyd’s of London.  “I thought I’d cover my assets,” explained the former “Girls Next Door” star and a Hugh Hefner ex. 

But Madison wasn’t the first to insure the bosom. 

Way back in 1955, burlesque performer Tempest Storm, still active in show business today, did the same thing. 

Calling her breasts “moneymakers,” that part of her anatomy also was insured for $1 million. 

To assure accuracy with the Lloyds of London policy, the stripper’s PR people at a news conference invited media in attendance to confirm her size with a tape measure. 

Editors were delighted with the reporting --- and photos. 

Over the years, Lloyd’s of London has insured other past and present show business folks’ body parts. 

Among them:  Jimmy Durante’s nose, Celine Dion’s vocal cords and Tina Turner’s legs.