Financial Reviews

Continuing my breakdown of common all-risk insurance policy exclusions, I turn this week, to the smog, smoke, vapor or gas exclusion. While one might think that this type of exclusion would apply only to industrial or commercial properties, it can apply to homeowners’ claims as well, and it is important for all policyholders to understand.

One common issue that arises when this exclusion becomes relevant is how to define smoke, vapors or smog. Does the term smoke include harmful vapors? Do vapors differ from smoke, especially if they cannot be seen? A clear illustration of this is found in K & Lee Corp. v. Scottsdale Insurance Co., 769 F. Supp 870 (E.D. Pa. 1

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This article belongs to the Global food crisis story arc.

The global agriculture supply situation has worsened and a failure to boost food production fast enough to meet demand may lead to shortages, said investor Jim Rogers. “We’ve got to do something or we’re going to have no food at any price at times in the next few years,” Rogers said in a Bloomberg TV interview. Monthly food prices tracked by the FAO have surged 9 times in the past 11 months, as global demand for corn and wheat outstripped production and drought and flooding ravaged harvests. The World Bank estimates higher food prices have pushed 44 million more people into poverty.

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Hurricane Irene is barreling toward North Carolina, where a hurricane warning is in effect, and hurricane watches have been posted for Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and New England. Unlike their neighbors to the south, Northeasterners may not be as familiar with hurricane preparedness.

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In the unregulated industry that manufactures the things that many people put on their faces and bodies, almost anything goes. You owe it to yourself and your family to familiarize yourself with the ingredients you look at on the label of sleek salon products or the attractive bottles on store shelves. Then you may want only skin care organic products.

Do you really want to find the same chemicals in your floor and bathroom cleaners as in your facial cleansers? Manufacturing companies use a different word for face wash but not necessarily different ingredients. Scary but true, as a course in chemical nomenclature will tell you.

Avoid the initials TEA, MEA, DEA, and PEG. “Benzyl’ in a chemical means drying and harsh alcohol in the compound. Hyd

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As we explained earlier this week, almost every possible outcome of the current debt talks debacle will most likely be bad for the fragile recovery. Macroeconomic Advisers, an economic forecasting firm, has now estimated how the leading proposals for fiscal consolidation — from the House speaker, John Boehner, a Republican, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat — would affect the economy over the next decade.

As you can see in the chart below, both legislators packages are expected to drag on economic growth, since cutting government spending has ripple effects throughout the economy.

Decline in economic growth, relative to March estimates from Congressional Budget Office.

The economic forecasts are based on the Congressional Budget Offices scoring of the two legislators proposals, including two different versions of Mr. Boehn

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