After Sept. 11, the insurance industry (with some help from the construction industry) begged and pleaded for a federal backstop for terrorism insurance. Eventually, they got it good and hard.

And now, nobody’s buying it! Coverages are still scattershot and what is offered is too expensive.

The folks who might want it (big buildings in major cities) are charged premiums they don’t want to pay, and the folks who’d get great rates (smaller businesses in less dense areas) don’t see any need for it.

Sounds like the situation before Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The only difference is that now, if there is a terrorist attack, taxpayers will be left with the bill for anything over $10 billion — assuming the target’s owner has purchased terrorism coverage to begin with.