As hardworking Americans we all understand you need insurance.    Right???   Ever wonder why you're working your ass off at some crappy job (if you like your job replace crappy with career- rocking) and many of the companies you're paying your hard earned insurance dollars to are worth billions? Do you ever suspect that health insurance is like tuition -- price keeps going up (way beyond inflation) and the real value keeps going down.

Now before you get your actuarial tables in a twist let me say I have nothing against the idea of insurance. I like it. If I burn my house down because I don't know how to put out a grease fire I want my insurance company to give me a new one. (House that is.) So I pay my premiums on time and hope I never need them. That's correct. I'm betting that I burn my house down and they're betting that I don't  -  and I hope they win the bet.

So the idea that I can protect something of great value (House, Car [maybe], My Life [depending upon who you talk to], My Strip Club); you get the idea.  That is what the stuff (insurance) is for.  Pool the risk and everyone comes out ahead.  Insurance companies do a good job at that (It is really a beautiful pool - Olympic size with all the bells and whistles). When I total my Lamborghini they are there for me.

But wait; what if the only car I have to get to work is my old Yugo? I call my insurance broker and he can't stop laughing long enough to give me a price. He is way to busy for that. He did, however have time to lobby the government (fill in which one here) to make you buy insurance. So if you're a hard working middle income stiff that can't afford a valuable car you still need to buy insurance. That's so that if the brakes give out on your Yugo and you plow into my Lambo there is an insurance settlement on the horizon.

Does anything about this grab your attention? Did you catch the part where you can't get your Yugo insured (for a reasonable price) but you HAVE TO BUY INSURANCE! 

Oops. What just happened there. (shades of the AHCA) "Driving," says the government, "is a privilege!"  Your government understands that if you live more than six blocks from your place of employment it is a privilege for you to get to work. So every day thousands of hard working men and women who can't afford this privilege DRIVE ANYWAY.

Now we come to the INSURANCE MISTIQUE. Hardworking American slobs have been brainwashed into thinking that the insurance companies are their friend and savior. So my fellow workers let us get one thing straight about the insurance companies. THEY ARE FOR-PROFFIT companies. That's correct. They exist to make money for their owners / shareholders. They DO NOT make money by paying claims. They make their money by collecting money and NOT paying it out in claims. Believe it or not I have no problem with this idea of making money. Insurance is important and a valuable protection when used properly. I would sell insurance if I wasn't such a poor salesman.  IE.....

"Madam, would you like to buy some insurance?"

"No thanks: and get your foot out of my door!"

"If your cat was run over today could you afford to replace it?"

"That's not my cat."

"How about your dog; or say your husband?"

"I wouldn't replace either one. But if my husband were to suddenly disappear... Is there insurance for that?"

"Well it would depend upon the circumstance. He might have to die."

"Come in. Come in!"