A good portion of the state in which I live – Texas – is burning or has burned. Since November 2010, more than 2.2 million acres have been blackened and more than 400 homes have been destroyed. Most of the damage has been in far flung, sparsely populated areas.

If you combine the fires with the devastating tornadoes in the South and the flooding of the both the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, I’d say a good portion of America is suffering the wrath of Mother Nature. The damage that has already occurred, plus the damage that is yet to come (remember, hurricane season is less than two weeks away), brings to mind property and casualty insurance.

Some years ago, I wrote a story about the impact the hurricanes in Florida, Louisiana and Texas had on insurance rates for commercial property. I bet you can guess that rates went up. More often than not, landlords ended up passing along the extra expense to their tenants. This time around, I wonder if tenants will be so willing to absorb the extra expense now when companies are fighting for every penny of profit.