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. . .or the even more powerful Carrington Event of 1859. If that event occurred today, estimates of damage range from US$600 billion to US$2.3 trillion in North America alone. . . .

The shipping companies(not to mention the boys at Lloyd's) would kick up a hell of a fuss if that plan were adopted.

The shippers aren't there to achieve foreign policy objectives, satisfy Law and Order enthusiasts, or even coddle bleeding hearts. They are there to make money by shipping stuff. The reason that they aren't bothering to do all that much about piracy is that, at least at present, it is cheaper to just suck it up, pay the occasional ransom, and carry on with business than it would be to do anything terribly aggressive.

A plan that involves blowing up entire ships(not cheap to replace) and their cargoes(also not cheap, and you'd better believe that whoever paid the shipper to have that stuff shipped would be pissed if it got lost) would be, from the shippers' perspective, vastly more expensive than just ignoring the problem.

I wasnt referring to people vs corporations, I was referring to gov't vs Corp ownership, how many corporations do you know that are even half as old as the US, and we are a baby amongst the nations.

First, nations change their form of government, this past century we had nations change their government at least twice. Llyod's of London was founded in 1688. Though not older the Insurance Company of North America was founded in 1792 and the Hartford Insurance Group in 1810. The Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire incorporated in 1768. The Hudson's Bay Company in Canada was founded in 1670.

I'm sure if I look longer I can find more corporations that are as old.

Falcon

If I'm not mistaken (and Wikipedia's got it right) it's also the origins of Lloyds of London.

Lloyd's says the same thing.

In fact, shipping risk appears to be one of the major factors in the creation of insurance as we know it, dating back almost 4000 years.

According to Financial Web ancient Chinese farmers pooled their produce then shipped it on different boats or ships so that if a shipment was lost a farmer would only lose a portion of the crop. It further says the first actual "insurance contracts originated in the 13th century with ship owners who wanted to protect themselves against the possibility of catastrophic losses."

Is there substantially more risk in a modern space launch than in a 400 years ago from England to the East Indies?

I wouldn't say there's more risk but the potential losses are greater, with the possible exception of the Spanish galleons of gold, other precious metals, and stones.

Falcon

Quanta Computer makes laptops for major U.S. computer sellers and is the only company sued by LG that hasn't settled. It is among several large Korean companies that bought computer components from Intel.

Huh? That's a 1986-style Greenpeace mantra. Nuclear power is not polluting unless someone very, very seriously screws up.

It most certainly is polluting. I suggest you check into the pollution caused by uranium mining. And a lot of the mining is done on Native lands, who are left to clean it up or live with it. Some Navajo have to live with physical ailments caused by the mining on their land.

It's like saying that airplanes kill civilians and destroy buildings.

You're right, it's people who kill other people and destroy buildings, and in the case of uranium it's those who demand uranium which results in the mining of it.

Tell you what, if you support nuclear power how about supporting a free market in it? Let's see how fast companies will want to build nuclear power plants when they have to buy insurance on their own, The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act shields plants from liability. So let's see if LLoyds of London would insure them, as in a free market there would be no shield. No less than the libertarian free market CATO Institute says of nuclear power "the costs of nuclear power are shared by the public but the profits are enjoyed privately." It goes on about how an investment banking and financial services firm concluded that if 3 subsidies came to an end the nuclear power industry would ground to a halt, one of them being Price Anderson.

Now I hope you're not going to say how CATO is a Greenpeace like environmental organization.

This was the second of four reports. They are:
Working Group I "The Physical Science Basis" (Released 2 February)
Working Group II "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" (The one just out -- 4 April)
Working Group III "Mitigation of Climate Change" (Due 3 May)
The Synthesis Report (SYR) (Due 16 November)

See http://www.ipcc.ch/

The economics of making as early a start as possible are looked at quite closely at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Independent_Reviews/ stern_review_economics_climate_change/sternreview_ index.cfm

Industry will certain play some role in getting things moving. A good example would be "CEOs Ask Bush for Mandatory Emissions Caps" at:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/55321.html.

The insurance companies are certainly seeing this as important:
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international /2007/04/06/78536.htm
There's a link from the above to a PDF hosted at Lloyds:
http://www.lloyds.com/NR/rdonlyres/FCA144E6-24D5-4 25E-B058-3A64E020E18F/0/360_RapidClimateChangeRepo rt.pdf

That's a 31 page PDF titled _Rapid Climate Change_. Major topic coverage:
    Rapid sea level rise
    By Professor David Smith

    Destabilisation of parts of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheet
    By Dr Stephan Harrison

    Increased frequency and intensity of floods
    By Dr Matt Wilson

    Climate variability and changes in global drought intensity and frequency
    By Dr Richard Washington

I was under the impression that no one was willing to insure payloads because the risk was too high.

It's all about the numbers. If the premium is high enough, you will find underwriters. The more risk, the more the premium. In the satellite business, the premium for insuring the launch, successful activation, and on-orbit lifetime can be a big portion of the overall budget. For a very expensive commercial satellite (think the billion+ Boeing 701s, like the XM satellites and DirecTV), it can be over 100 million dollars.

Because of the hefty premium, many satellites forego the insurance, and the US government (which spends the most on satellites) is self insured.

Lloyd's of London is the most well known underwriter. They discuss it some here

Just a small bit of British nerdishness:

Lloyds is an ancient insurance house.
Lloyd's is an ancient bank.

As of this posting, Lloyd's is down hard. Slashdotted perhaps?

Request for clarification:

Do you want to insure your nuts or ensure you are nuts?

Nasty little Freudian slip using "your"

Lloyd's of London DOH That will teach me to use preview

See Lloyd's homepage

Lloyd's of London has a famous reputation for assessing and insuring all sorts of odd risks, such as Mary (Entertainment Tonight) Hart's legs. Check this out for some examples. Businesses can even insure against a couple employees winning the lottery and not coming back to work...