However, because these losses are usually clustered in geographic areas, there is a risk that regional insurance companies will be hurt so bad financially that they won't be able to pay all the claims at once.

I'm sorry, but you will not be released. You are not a good risk.

When this happens, the insurance companies that are in trouble will count on state guarantee funds to cover them. This is one reason to make sure your homeowners insurance company is a so-called 'admitted' carrier; nonadmitted carriers are not covered by state guarantee funds.

Crooks move into disaster areas almost as quickly as relief workers do, ... These scammers will run every kind of rip-off, from conning people into signing over emergency benefits to signing usurious loans to fronting construction work that's never begun.

The crisis in the Middle East has caused a heightened risk aversion amongst investors. They are worried the fighting will weigh on government budgets, travel, leisure as well as profit growth.

Any Congressional agreement of an arbitrary time table to bring our troops home before we have accomplished our mission is unacceptable and could potentially increase the risk to our soldiers.