Is the billion dollar disaster record impressive?

posted 12-19-2011 by Writtenin1981

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It is official that the United States saw a dozen different weather-related disasters this year that caused more than $1 billion in damages throughout 2011 (with two weeks left to go in the year). That breaks the record of nine billion dollar disasters set in 2008, but is that really impressive these days? The cost of living, the amount of stuff we own, and even the number of people in the United States have all increased drastically over the last 100 years. Thus, hitting the billion dollar mark in 2011 is much easier than it would have been even in 1951.

Is this an indication that the awesome power of nature is becoming even more awesome, or is it the power of inflation?