How California policy exacerbates costs and consequences of wildfires - Washington Examiner

California wildfires have led to 25 deaths, with more than 12,000 structures destroyed or badly damaged.

Julian Zelizer : California policies before the fires are a major factor in the economic damage.

He says the greatest cost to rebuilding from the wreckage won’t just be the physical homes, but rather what the $40 billion in losses to insurers means for investors’ appetite for economic risk in the region.

California ’s commitment to pricing the least privileged out of the Los Angeles metro area’s safest parts seems unfettered. The state’s demand that insurers not exit the market is a loud bark likely followed by a little real bite. Over time, that quarter-trillion-dollar price tag could sadly prove a wild underestimate as rebuilding is made more expensive and time-consuming — all thanks to overregulation and California ’s encouragement of middle-class earners to lean into another disaster in the foothills..