Reader Comments of the Week

In response to Rogue Forces

Chuck shared his own rogues list for the industry:

"1) Politicians who add benefit mandates to score political points. Insurance is intended for and works best with low-frequency, high-cost, unpredictable events (i.e., insurable events). Requiring the insuring of non-insurable events is wasteful and serves no useful purpose beyond scoring political points, raises loss ratios, and increases premiums.

2) Complex detailed regulations (e.g., policyholder taxes, XXX reserves, etc.) that create never-ending rounds of complex products to take advantage of loopholes and patched regulations to fill those loopholes. The complexity ensures this spiral never ends.

3) Pols, pundits, etc., who continually promote the idea (to suit their own purposes) that the insurance business is inherently evil. This gets in the way of any real improvements of the business.

4) Companies who'd rather lie low regarding 1 through 3, sometimes trying to take advantage of those issues for their own purposes, instead of confronting them head on."

In response to Dreaming of a Part-Time Congress

Sunforester wrote:

"I spoke recently with one of my former Congressional representatives from my district. His two years in Washington was a nonstop quest for money from all kinds of interests that expected him to return the favor with his legislative votes and the influential power of his office.

"He said it was a treadmill without end, and his trading of his own political influence for money was completely expected as the way things are usually done. He hasn't been back to Washington since his term expired, and does not regret leaving behind the huge pressures to use his influence to extract money from the people any way he can.

"This is what basically good people experience when they go to Washington as elected representatives of their constituents. All the good intentions to do right by the people fly completely out the window because of the rampant corruption that is Washington, D.C.

"We cannot expect good results out of a criminally perverse environment — it is not enough to change the people, but the rules in Washington also need to change to promote virtue instead of creating gangsters who shake down our citizens and organizations for that protection money and extortion that fuels our government."