It's not all bad news on the insurance front in the mass media. For one, I was pleasantly surprised to see an intelligent story about catastrophe futures gracing the cover of “The New York Times” magazine on Aug. 26, headlined: “In Nature's Casino.” The piece focused on the efforts of one individual to figure out a way for the financial markets to profitably take on some of the risk of natural disasters. Can cat bonds make a big difference in today's disaster-shy insurance market?


(To read the “Times” story, click here.)

To the credit of the author, Michael Lewis, the story is a fascinating read and often very dramatic–not the norm for anything having to do with insurance reporting. (“The more John Seo looked into the insurance industry, the more it seemed to be teetering at the edge of ruin,” one paragraph breathlessly began, halfway through the lengthy piece. “Then CAT BOND MAN came to the rescue…” All right, I made up that second sentence, but you get the idea.)

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